


Regency

by Lobb



Series: The Family Arc [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, Completed, Dark Comedy, Gen, Grimm King Jaune, Grimm Queen Blake, Grimmification (RWBY), Romantic Comedy, Super Bad Ending, blame tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2020-10-10 07:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 41,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobb/pseuds/Lobb
Summary: When they defeated Salem, they thought it was all over.  The Grimm remained, and worse, they got more aggressive and violent.  For Light to exist, Dark had to stray at the edges.  Jaune made the greatest sacrifice, but she stepped up so that he needn’t do it alone.  [Grimm King & Queen Knightshade, Crackfic]





	1. Crown One

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know why I’m writing this when Atlesian Winters didn’t go over that well either. Ah well, crackfics galore. It’s almost like I should be writing more Fruity Loops instead. Blame Tumblr for everything.

Regency

Crown One  
A King and His Queen

More than anything, she hated when he got that look on his face. The look that said he was thinking about the others. There were many reasons why it irritated her, ironically the least of which being that it tended to make the Grimm target their old friends all the more- not that the otherwise mindless monsters could just home into the location of where they were anyway.

No, it just tended to precede a somewhat sappy bit of self-effacing that always meant she’d have to comfort him. While Blake Belladonna-Arc, First of her Name and Queen of the Grimm, personally enjoyed the gains of Jaune’s attention, she hated when he regressed back to self-pity.

It just wasn’t very attractive. A pity, since otherwise Jaune had grown into a very handsome Evil Overlord. He wasn’t a blue-eyed blonde anymore, but she’d stopped lamenting the decidedly fair and knightly features in favor of his newly regal countenance. The ruff, more like a mane really, of his own white hair feathering around his noble features.

“Blake.” His red eyes trailed from the hole he’d (literally) bored into the wall of the Grimmland’s great Castle unto where she stood comfortably at the side of the Throne, “Do you love me?”

Despite herself, her own red eyes rolled and she felt her cat-ears pin back against the top of her white-washed head. “Jaune. I promised to spend the rest of eternity with you, trapped in a realm with the unending darkness of humankind. We’re married. I’m pretty sure if we weren’t unable to reproduce, we’d have a family nearly as large as your parents did. Yes. I love you.”

His lower lip trembled a bit. “Yes, but-”

“No. Stop beating yourself up. That’s my job.”

“ . . . I love you, Blake.”

“You better.” She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of how those words always made her smile. He could have it when he wasn’t being such a lump.

+x+x+x+

It’d been a bit of a culture shock to go from her usual tight-to-the-skin outfits to the regal gowns made up of the black matter, though Blake could admit that she rocked the black and red look more than she would have initially guessed.

At least more than Adam ever had, anyway. And hey, it was color coordinated with her husband. Weiss could eat her. Ms. “CEO of the SDC” was still thoroughly entrenched in being too good for any potential suitor.

They’d been friends forever, but Blake still found herself acting a little more catty (did she really just pun? Damn it, Yang.) with the white-haired woman than the rest of her friend group. Even in her own head. It didn’t really help that Blake had joined the ranks of white-haired individuals thanks to having to dip herself into the birthing pools of the Grimm in order to obtain the power that had once belonged to Salem. Of course, Jaune had gotten the lion’s share of the power (DAMN IT YANG!) but she’d taken up the burden just as much as he had.

Bright side, she got to stay young and beautiful forever. Not that growing old with Jaune would have been filled with anything other than heartfelt appeals that she was the “most beautiful woman in the entirety of existence” but it was one thing to hear it (no matter how sincere) and another to know it would be the case until they eventually went mad and had to be put down the same way Salem had.

Hopefully that would not be for a -very- long time indeed. Frankly, Blake had come to think of it as an exceedingly long honeymoon vacation for the two.

Sue her. Blake was still a romantic at heart. Plus, she had all the time in the world to read all the books that existed. And since she was the Queen of the Grimm, all she had to do was be a little sneaky with it and she could get whatever she wanted for free.

Okay, so maybe her sense of morals had shaken a bit.

Surely that wouldn’t go poorly.

“Blake! The Beowulves are attacking Argus again!”

“Sorry, dear. I just remembered that time your sister said my outfit clashed.”


	2. Crown Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: A few people ask if I’m continuing or doing more with Atlesian Winters, and the truth is that I’m not. All of the comments have mostly been critiques against it, so- in the immortal words of someone- “If it doesn’t make someone happy, don’t do it.” This crack is purely for my own amusement, and memes. For those of you who are a fan of my F/SN content, I’ll be trying to update Black Eden and finish out the Night Falls arc of it this weekend, so you’ll be happy to know we’ll have Mordred and Saber shenanigans soon.

Regency

Crown Two  
Visitors

It was a rare thing when Blake was the one who got to feel Jaune being exasperated with her. Usually, it was her putting up with his moodiness, but even she could admit (now anyway) that there had been plenty of points in her life when she’d been the one on the receiving end of such a deadpan stare.

The fact it was her husband giving her such a look said a lot about their relationship, she felt. She was so proud of him.

“So Ruby is visiting.”

“Did she tell you that BEFORE, or AFTER, she rolled up in the Throne Room screaming at the top of her lungs?”

“Definitely after.” She noted, moving a hand now wreathed in corrupt black veins and similarly darkened nails towards the sight of the silver-eyed Huntress squirming about right in front of Jaune. The grin stretching her no-longer chubby cheeks saying all that needed to be said about how -the actual literal Hell- she’d gotten from Vale all the way to the Grimmlands.

“So I brought Remnant: The Game!” Her old team leader noted pleasantly, holding up the boxed board game and what seemed to be a cooler she knew would be filled with baked goods, milk, sodas, and- in order to appease Jaune- at least two beers.

Jaune took a deep sigh, and Blake could almost perfectly replicate the next words that were going to come out of his mouth. “Rubes. You know you can’t just walk right into the castle and demand we play board games with you. We’re the rulers of the Grimm--”

She also could perfectly anticipate the look on the silver-eyed woman’s face that Blake swore was best described in the phrase, “Bitch you guessin’.”

“I’ll go set the table.” She settled for, gliding her way out of the Throne Room and towards their private quarters. After all, the castle was filled with intelligent Grimm- most of whom were probably dead or frozen in stone thanks to Ruby’s inability to deliver prior warning before visiting.

They lost more good Grimm that way. Frankly, Blake was just used to it. At least Weiss had the good graces to use the Seer to set an appointment for visiting, even if Ruby and Yang seemed to hold some personal affection for just showing up out of nowhere.

From what she gathered, Ren and Nora kept in touch with Jaune, but she’d admit readily that she didn’t go out of her way to socialize as much with Jaune’s old team. Ren was fine, don’t get her wrong, but where Ren went came Nora.

And Nora was just too much for Blake- even with nigh magical powers and a whole lot more patience than she used to have. The fact that Jaune never begrudged her this only made her more satisfied that she’d picked a good husband.

Now if only her mother would stop insisting they work on grandbabies. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been trying. What was essentially immortality did still come with the caveat that they stopped being human, after all. Technically, all the Grimm were their children.

Just not very huggable. Except Noir, but Noir was still a Sphinx grimm, even if one she swore acted more like a house pet than an engine of never ending hate and destruction.

Nevermind the fact Noir was easily the size of a building and Jaune still treated it like a lap-cat. Only her husband could do that.

Oh well, she could worry about that later. Preparing their bedroom for Ruby’s inevitable outrage at being utterly destroyed by Jaune at a board-game came first. Blake was beginning to think Ruby only ever brought that game on the pure happenstance that one day she’d beat the former blonde at it.

Blake didn’t hold high hopes. Much like his tactical acumen in battle, Jaune just seemed to have some preternatural ability to -never- lose at that game.

+x+x+x+

“I’M BACK, BITCHES!” Her attention turned from the pages of her latest book towards the (somewhat overcompensating) large doors that led into the throne room. Her cat-ears reflexively flicked as Yang meandered her way into the huge room with a cooler thrown over her shoulder in her prosthetic hand.

Putting the mark in the page she’d left off, the Queen of the Grimm stood up from the throne and began to glide her way down the steps separating the remainder of the audience chamber from the upraised crystal throne. “It’s good to see you again, Yang.” She noted, even as the blonde grinned for all the world was like a joy-ride to her.

“Same, Blake-y. Where’s the ole Balls-n-chain?” Blake found herself rolling her eyes at her old partner, but she knew it was more out of fondness than anything resembling true exasperation.

“Better than Vomit Boy, I guess.” She mused under her breath, even as she accepted a one-armed embrace from the blonde. “Either making a token attempt to direct the Grimm into doing an attack, or- more likely- using the Seers to talk to his family.”

“Y’know there’s something terrifying about the fact he’s still such a sap even after becoming the most evil thing since split ends.” Yang noted, as the two walked towards the meeting room in order to have a place to sit and chat. When they arrived, Yang unpacked the cooler and slid a bottle of liquor tea towards the head of the table as Blake went to take a seat at the crystal chair while Yang was directly to her right. A bright bottle of alcohol was clutched in the blonde’s prosthetic hand.

“He’s my husband, you know, so you two have to get along eventually.” Blake noted, using a wave of a hand and some of the magic that suffused her form to unscrew the bottle and then lift the bottle to her lips. Her ears pinned back against her head from the strong taste, but nonetheless soldiered through it.

She’d long since given up trying to convince Yang to bring something non-alcoholic. Between the two, Jaune enjoyed drinking more- and that was more out of courtesy of the fact that the inherent burn of liquor gave him an outlet for his more self-destructive nature rather than anything else. Even she knew that he indulged everyone’s interest in “bonding over brews” more for a sense of normalcy than anything else.

It was one of the few small escapes he got from being King of the Grimm, besides time spent with her. And they spent a -lot- of time together.

So Blake could appreciate the time they weren’t together all the more.

“Eehhh- I still think you could’ve done better.” Yang waved her natural hand dismissively.

“Like with you?” Blake mused, unable to help the sudden dour mood that breezed into the room. It was better than the blanket malaise that existed throughout the Grimmlands, but- well- Blake was a bit vindictive like that.

“Yup. Have you seen me? I’m the hottest thing on two legs, y’know.” Despite herself, Blake simply smiled softly.

“I’m sorry, Yang.”

+x+x+x+

The first few minutes of Weiss’ visits were always more stifling than that of the rest of the team. She prided herself on formality more than the rest of their friends- which wasn’t hard since she was the only one amongst them whom had any idea of high society civility. But then she’d inevitably crack a smile and give both of them a hug. Jaune would offer what insight he could to helping her with her problems in the SDC and Atlas, then they’d settle into discussing the most inane things. Weiss would lament Ruby’s tendency to just roll in like a storm and tear her away to force her to go on a mission to deal with some bandits, or some new incursion of violent backroom politics that inevitably showed that- as much as they were the heroes that had won the day- people just couldn’t change their very nature.

It reminded her countless times of the people whom had tried to curry favor with her and Jaune in order to become the world’s newest Cinder, Watts, Hazel- even some Faunus who were still wanting to bring back the violent days of the White Fang.

Those days never ended well. Jaune no longer had Crocea Mors, having let the blade return to his ancestral home in Ansel, but he’d replaced it with a summonable blade that was just as good at cleaving flesh as the relic ever had been. Willingness to kill had been the thing that had always separated Jaune from the rest of them.

That had died with Cinder. And then, the first time someone had used a captured Seer to try and swear allegiance against the whole of humankind, he’d shown just how much the change had affected him.

To the world at large, she and Jaune were just as implacable and destructive as Salem ever had been. The sad truth was that, if Jaune wanted it, Remnant would become a world ruled by the Grimm.

Their only real defender was Ruby Rose, after all. And as much as Blake adored both her husband and her former team leader, Jaune had an understanding of everything she was capable of.

Deep inside of her, Blake was scared of the man who fretted endlessly over whether the force of Grimm he sent to attack villages, cities, and inconvenience teams of Hunters, was too much. Who came to their bedroom at night after he unconsciously let the darkness inside of him guide and direct the Grimm in ways that Salem had never been able to do- and cried against her breast.

It was a healthy, deep-seated fear that made her aware how she’d made the right choice that day when she’d stepped forward and into the pool of darkness with him. When their friends had been forced to watch as he screamed and cried.

If he’d been alone, no one would have been able to blame him for succumbing to hysteria. It put Salem into perspective so much more than Ozpin’s stories ever had.

Weiss’ visits always ended with her alone with Blake, while Jaune would retire away. She knew where he went every time, siphoning away the darkness in his heart in order to make yet another grand Grimm that would serve as one of the innumerable guardians that never strayed from the grounds of the castle.

And Weiss always softly asked how he was doing, how their marriage was affecting the both of them. Then she’d promise to visit again soon, and talk to them through the Seer more. Blake always smiled and accepted the lie.

It was easier than dealing with the inky black feeling in her heart that told her to get rid of the Schnee. That she’d grown distant from all of them and it was only time before the Weiss Schnee she remembered stopped existing.

+x+x+x+x+

The irony was deep every time they visited Argus. It was an annual thing, almost. The anniversary of Pyrrha’s death would come and the dark feelings pervading Jaune’s heart would make Grimm gather at the borders of the city and necessitate a defense of the place. It was convenient in every form. Hunters, defenders, and political views would be swayed away from the plaza where her statue was erected. Sapphron and not-so-little Adrian would be there waiting when they stepped through the portal. He would hug his sister and nephew, Blake would offer them both company while the King stepped as if on glass across the walkway that led up to her epitaph.

It would be pristine and just as if it’d been made yesterday. A red-haired woman would be waiting within, and- even though Blake had never once gone up to the statue with him- she knew everything that would pass. No clairvoyance or preternatural senses were necessary.

Jaune would softly apologize to Pyrrha’s mother, and she would insist it had never been his fault. That she was still proud of her daughter, and that there was nothing in the world that could have changed the headstrong young woman’s mind- even love. Her mother would lay a bundle of poinsettia flowers at the feet of the monument, and Jaune would lay a bouquet of daffodils just as close.

Saphron would ask her how her husband was doing, and Blake would assure her that he was still her younger brother. She’d make another promise- Arc’s word- that she would do everything she could to make him happy.

Then, he’d come back to her, and they would kiss. The kiss always made her melt against him, and she’d long since began to ignore how Saphron would give an amused look at her and Adrian would mutter about cooties.

They’d promise to visit again next year, and Jaune would take her hand and they would step back into the portal to their home. The attack on Argus would cease, and she’d drag him to their bedroom and remind him that- for all Pyrrha had been his first kiss, Blake was the one whom would stay by his side forever.

Rather than a morose occasion, it was often one of the better nights in the year. He would devote himself to her again, and she would renew her appreciation for the martyr that was her husband.

+x+x+x+

She was twenty-five when the world saw fit to drag them back into the limelight. She was still young enough in their curse that it hadn’t felt like they’d been together three years, but the days dragged on and the Grimmland’s constant twilight hadn’t helped her understand the passing of time any better. She’d come to associate months purely by virtue of the fact Ruby always visited every month. Yang would come by intermittently between one month and the next, and Weiss blew in once every season. The year was marked by their visit to Pyrrha’s memorial in Argus. Days were marked by Jaune speaking to Ren and Nora through the Seer, him assuring her that the two were fine- and even doing well, in fact.

They’d had their first child, and Blake was sure Nora would not stop at one.

They stepped through the portal into the lab that had once held the aura transfer device beneath Beacon’s floor. Waiting there was Ruby and Yang, both grinning like loons while the new Headmistress stood by with her hands at the small of her back.

Blake was sure her husband shared the sympathy for the students of Beacon to have them united under the pretty heel of Glynda Goodwitch. Nonetheless, it seemed that they were no longer going to be allowed to quietly influence the world.

The ride in the long since fixed elevator was stifling, Jaune nervously inquiring as to the Headmistress’ life and struggles since Salem’s fall so long ago, earning only clipped answers until he looked at the other girls with a look that positively screamed “Help me.”

Blake wished she could. But this was a step forward filled with uncertainty. Possibly into being allowed to walk amongst lands they’d once wandered and made so many memories within--

\--or into a new era of war between Grimm-kind and humankind.


	3. Crown Three

Regency

Crown Three  
Commencement

Beacon truly had changed over the years, even despite the reconstruction effort having been mostly a restoration rather than an outright remodelling. Jaune’s glinting red eyes gazed upon the corridors as they moved from the building proper towards the amphitheatre. He knew the presence of Glynda, Ruby, and Yang had been to head off any uncomfortable questions or lagging students, but he couldn’t help the wisp of darkness in his heart that whispered that he and Blake weren’t trusted.

It was a surprisingly strong voice. If asked, he’d even admit it. As they slipped into the building with it’s darkened setting and the stage lights that were fixated on the upraised stage, his eyes began to turn towards Blake--

\-- to feel her hand slip into his own gauntlet-clad one. His head lowered for a moment, before he turned his gaze back unto her with a pleasant grin.

He would have fallen into despair if he had been alone. None of this would have been possible. That thought dragged him into memories of the time before the final battle against Salem, their slowly developing romance that had begun one night in Argus so long ago.

Sadly, he couldn’t commit to the reverie. Glynda’s voice resounded through the hall.

+x+x+x+

She’d come from Sanctum Academy, a middling student who had exemplified herself with great combat scores despite poor academics. To stand in a crowd amidst others who had come to Vale to the renewed Beacon- one of the best amidst the Huntsman academies. She’d been intent on following the example set by the late Pyrrha Nikos- though she couldn’t say that she’d been a champion like the long deceased redhead had. She was, however, thoroughly inspired by the tales of the Invincible Girl and her team-mates on the eponymous JNPR. Almost as famous as team RWBY, also Beacon alumni.

To gaze upon two of those members alongside the Headmistress made her feel that her decision had been the correct one. Though, she couldn’t help but feel that their positions seemed . . .

Well, it was just weird to see them both looking bored out of their wits. Was the commencement of Beacon’s new school year so boring to two of the most premiere huntresses to exist? Actually, when she thought about it that way, she could see it.

Why were they here then?

“- in honor of this auspicious day, we have four of the most celebrated of Huntresses and Huntsmen to offer their words and encouragement to you. And it is in the name of a new day of peace that two have come forth once again. With me, I introduce Miss Ruby Rose, and Miss Yang Xiao Long-”

Her eyes, bright red to go with her soft skin and her black hair, watched as both women stepped forward with a small wave. Then her gaze turned back unto the Headmistress as she beckoned to the off stage.

The light conversation in the room died an ignoble death as two forms slid up unto the stage from the shadows just off stage. One could hear a pin drop even without the enhanced senses of a faunus or a semblance to aid.

Forth, behind Ruby Rose’s back, a man and a woman moved so sinuously as if to glide on air. A woman garbed in a black and red gown that pooled on the floor as if it was formed from the very shadows that were cast by her presence, pallid skin offset by encroaching purple-black veins that licked into the lids of her eyes and covered her hands alongside burning red eyes set into an abyss of black. Her features were regal and angular, beauty eternalized. Snow white hair billowed out into a voluminous set of waves, shorn at her nape and accented with a set of powder-gray feline ears that ticked and turned every which way as she stood at the side of the man with her hands folded in front of her hips, just behind the silver-eyed warrior. She wore no visible weapon, but deep inside, the prospective student knew- deep inside- she could not need one. “Mrs. Blake Belladonna-Arc--”

Her attention was dragged from the eerie faunus woman unto her companion. A tall, imposing man wreathed in a black hooded coat with red accents and a billowing red sash- tattered at the end- about his waist alongside armor as white as bone decorated with similarly blood-red markings. Like the woman, his skin was deathly pale and rife with those sickening veins. His eyes softly glimmered red in the light, absorbed in pools of darkness. A ruff of shocked-white hair fanning across his noble features and spreading out to fluff outwards. For all the woman seemed majestic and untouchable, he instead seemed . . . nervous?

Well, that killed some of the mystique- though not so much the burning in her gut that said she was in danger. “And last, but by no means least, Jaune Belladonna-Arc.”

Wait. Jaune Arc. That was the leader of Pyrrha Nikos’ Beacon team?!

+x+x+x+

“This is stupid.” Jaune noted under his breath, and through his smiling teeth. At his side, Blake stifled a giggle. Ruby glanced back at them, and both did their best to affect the appearance of the regal monarchs that they were.

From the look on the silver-eyed woman’s face, it wasn’t going so well. Thankfully, Ruby was the first called up to speak, and so that gave Blake an opening to respond.

“It is. I have no clue what they think they’re doing, having us present for this.” She could take some educated guesses, but most of them didn’t truly add up to anything resembling a sensible answer.

Which frankly made her think that the reasoning wasn’t sensible at all- just an effort to make for change with the only route they thought available to them. It reeked of what the RWBY-JNPR split teams had come to term a “Jaune Plan.”

Notwithstanding the fact that Jaune’s plans had a terrifying tendency of working. Gods, that scared her more than she cared to think about right then. Her red gaze turned over as Yang stepped up to replace Ruby, and she turned her head to re-engage Jaune--

\--”Hey, kick ass out there and you’ll do fine! That’s all from me!”

And promptly covered her face with her hand. Damn it, Yang. “I think that’s your queue, dear.” Jaune noted, no small amount of amusement on his stupid handsome face.

“Please don’t make me go up there alone.” She wasn’t proud to use the Yang-termed “Kitty Kat Stare” on him, but she privately thrilled when he hemmed and hawed and gave forth a sigh. His hand slipped into hers and he stepped forward while she stepped in line with him. Hell yeah, wife privileges. She thought triumphantly.

He had the good grace to clear his throat before he got in front of the microphone, and she let her hands knit together in front of her hips again as he gently tweaked the mic upwards so it would pick up his taller form.

Privately, Blake hoped he’d give a good speech. She didn’t have HIGH hopes, granted, but it would make her feel quite nice if he made a good showing. Part of his appeal to her had always been the quiet fire that burned in him. He was like her- passionate and determined. He stumbled with expressing himself despite being more outgoing, but she knew when he put his mind to something, he saw it through. That kind of reliable nature was a good trait in a significant other.

“If you’ve come to Beacon,” He began, and she was thrilled that he hadn’t screwed up yet. It was easier to pick up momentum than to start. She faded closer into his side and decided to let the mood build. “Then you should know the purpose that brought you here. Years ago, when the four of us on this stage came here, we were unshaped. Sure, some of us were outcasts, diamonds in the rough, or running from the lives that had failed us, but we came here for a reason. For me, that reason was because I wanted to make my family proud.”

The hush that had fallen over the crowd when they’d stepped into the lights of the stage cleared a bit, hushed little whispers beginning as he continued. Despite herself, Blake smiled softly. “I came here without what many of you already have. Training, knowledge, or even Aura to protect me.” The hush returned, stunned silence rifling through the seventeen year old crowd before them. Blake blinked at how personal Jaune made this little speech.

“I wasn’t ready, and it was foolish of me to do so- but I’ll tell you now. I will never regret that decision, because it led me to where I am today. With a great group of friends, partners, allies . . .” And then, he turned his head, reaching out to take one of her hands in his own gauntlet-clad one and she felt her cheeks flush with nervousness and -happiness.-

“And the most beautiful woman in all of the world to call my wife. When I first came here, I wanted to be a hero. Instead, I found out what was truly important to me.” She watched as his head turned back towards the mic. “The people around me. Tomorrow, during Initiation, you will forge bonds with people who will be with you for the rest of your life. And, if you’re very lucky, like I was, they will help fill your life not just people willing to have your back--”

He grinned. And it was one of those old and vaunted “Jaune Arc Grins” that made him look boyish once again. And in that moment, Blake felt that this worrisome trip had been worth it. “-- You’ll find friends and family that will last a lifetime. So I’ll leave you with some words that I shared with Ruby over there on my first day of Beacon, that came right from my mother. Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.”

Pleased, she joined him as he stepped back and they slid along the upraised stage to stand between Ruby and Yang as Glynda stepped forward once again.

As they faced forward again, Blake gently squeezed her husband’s hand in her own. The smile on her lips hurt her cheeks, but she was pleased. She hadn’t had to say a word, and Jaune hadn’t stuck his foot in his mouth. You couldn’t put a price tag on a success like that, and she knew it.

He was getting -such- a cuddling tonight. Yang smacked a fist into his bicep, both sisters gave them a grin, and Blake simply shook her head. “Way to show us all up, Vomit Boy.”

“Oh great, we’re still doing nickname callbacks.” She squeezed his hand again, and he calmed in response. Glynda announced the traditional “slumber party” in the auditorium, and the time of Initiation in the morning, then the lights returned to normal as she stepped back towards them. The older blonde woman paused in front of them, a mild expression on her face.

“Since I know Miss Rose and Miss Xiao-Long were already volunteered to stay-” “-Hey!-” “- will the two of you stay and watch the Initiation? Of course, with your . . . positions, I must ask that you do not intervene in the ritual, but I think it will be the most fresh air either of you have gotten in years.”

Blake blinked, looking ready to speak before she was cut off by her husband. “Sure, Professor- err, Headmistress.” He leaned over as Glynda nodded and stepped away, whispering into one of her cat ears.

“Besides, being back here has given me an idea.”

Blake’s ears- and a brow- perked. If he thinks I’m going to put on a uniform for him . . . She turned her gaze unto him, and saw that boyish grin on his face again. . . . I’ll think about it.

She put on the uniform that night anyway. He’d earned it.

x+x+x+x

The night passed quietly, and Blake had to admit that time away from the Grimmlands did- in fact- do them both some good. Strangely, she found herself somewhat ill in the morning, though she muscled it down. Jaune awoke much more pleasantly, and they even had time to indulge in a shower and breakfast that wasn’t wild game, Blake had almost cried when she got a fillet of fish. The only reason she hadn’t had been the fact it would have been unseemly.

Gods, now she was thinking like Weiss. End her.

A discussion with her mother had forewarned her that she and Ghira would be in Vale by the afternoon, so the Queen of the Grimm simply let the despondence that she’d be dealing with her parents that day, too.

Privately, she was glad Jaune did as much as possible to keep his distance from his family. Perhaps she should have been more supportive and encouraged him to reconnect and try to bring the Arcs back into his life, but she was happy with only having one side of the marriage being the pushy, teasing in-laws. And that was purely just her mother. Her father seemed content to be just as weirded out as the rest of Team RWBY had been when Blake had begun “seeing” Jaune.

Till the end of time, Blake would prefer that bemusement to her mother’s gleeful expression and the occasional question of when they’d have a grandchild to spoil. She’d even put up with the disappointed looks that came from Yang, Sun, or- oddly enough- Ruby.

Kali Belladonna was a woman very eager to be a grandmother. Blake was used to it, she felt sorry when Jaune got roped into it because it seemed like every time he was blushing darkly and giving her a look to rescue him by the time they managed to find an excuse to break off from using the Seers.

She’d just have to take the embarrassment out through schadenfreude with the group of hapless teens. The time-honored tradition persisted, it seemed, as they all lined up on the metal pads and, to her delight, a few of them seemed ill-prepared when the air filled with the first violent fwung of a student being launched into the forest below.

It tickled her a little that Jaune seemed particularly vindictive about it, too.


	4. Crown Four

Regency

Crown Four  
Tenderness

They may have made asses of themselves. At least, that was her thoughts in response to the looks Goodwitch and Ruby were shooting at them as she leaned against Jaune’s side, watching the display on his tablet Scroll. She couldn’t help but snicker along gently as her husband enjoyed the byplay here and there, not missing the fact that Yang was grinning at them just as she’d please.

“Oh boy, watch this. That poor girl, there’s totally a snake in that clearing.” And, of course, there was. They were, after all, the King and Queen of the Grimm. There wasn’t even any direction necessary- just the ability to sense the creatures as need be. The panicked look that was captured by the video feed caused him to burst into laughter, and- unable to help herself- her hand shot up to shield her lips as she began to giggle. “Fucking classic.” Jaune noted with pleasure.

Oh, the girl did just fine- especially when another stepped in and they could more conveniently battle the twin-headed beast- so it was all in good fun, right?

+x+x+x+

As the morning faded into noon when they’d settled into seats in the auditorium for the team announcements, Blake realized a very unfortunate fact. She hadn’t told Jaune that her parents were visiting in Vale. And that they were going to have to teleport their way to the hotel restaurant they were waiting at, from the message on her own personal Scroll.

It was weird to have reception on the thing again.

This was going to suck. “Love of my life?” The way his shoulders stiffened, she knew she’d messed up. She didn’t want to think of herself as impersonal, but she just didn’t tend to be one for nicknames and playful epithets- and Jaune knew that more than anyone. So when she pulled the simpering tone, he always knew trouble was coming.

She’d have been upset if it didn’t make her so ironically happy. “Mom and Dad are in Vale and they’re waiting on us to meet them at the Ebony hotel.”

And there was the panic. Jaune Arc, King of the Grimm, was panicking at the thought of meeting the in-laws. Not that they hadn’t talked plenty, but- well- this was the first time they’d actually meet in person.

Wow, when she thought about it like that, it made her sound worried, too. Ah shit, now she was worrying. This could be bad. “We need to go.” She noted, trying to control her voice despite her own rising sense of urgency.

“Shouldn’t we tell Ruby and Yang-?”

“No time, make with the magic-”

And so he formed a portal through the shadows and they both hurriedly stepped through, ignoring the hushed room they left in favor of the jaunt into the hotel foyer.

Raven Branwen, eat your heart out.

The only real restriction to their ability to form portals was that they had to actually be able to envision the place. That rule leaned on the abstract side a bit, since she was sure that Jaune had never been inside of the Ebony hotel- but it was enough material to get them there.

If a bit too dynamically from the panicked expressions of the few employees in the lobby. She turned towards the concierge desk and, affecting a strained smile, asked “Pardon me, but my mother and father are waiting for us in the hotel restaurant. The reservation is probably under Belladonna.”

She turned her gaze away from the- thoroughly nervous, she noted- young faunus woman and unto her husband, whom was staring imperiously towards the entryway to what was probably the restaurant itself. “We should have dressed up.” He bemoaned, and she privately agreed. But appearing in a wash of shadows was already crazy enough- shifting their clothes into more appropriate dining attire would just be too many questions.

At least the first they could blame a Semblance on. Her Semblance had been Shadow Clones, after all. Semblances evolved over time- right? Right?

Just not usually as a result of skinny-dipping in pools of concentrated emo. When the concierge confirmed that they had the right hotel, and that her parents were waiting within, she grasped Jaune’s hand and purposefully strode into the restaurant.

Blake Belladonna-Arc, Queen of the Grimm, First of Her Name did not jog in heels. She just did not. And she would thank you to not spread such slanderous filth.

+x+x+x+

They slowed back down to a respectable pace as they rounded the corner where her parents were sat. Privately, she was glad that the distance was much shorter than she feared it would be, because if her mother and father saw her winded just to get from the lobby to their table, she would have been mortified.

Well, more mortified than she was about to be anyway. Kali Belladonna was already standing up, and Blake saw overly enthusiastic hugs in their future.

The immediate future, it seemed, since they hadn’t even gotten within distance of the table before she was being squeezed more tightly than a corset could. If she weren’t a nigh-immortal being of destruction and magical power, she was pretty sure her lungs and ribs would be protesting. Instead, she just let out a grunt of pain that may have resembled the word, “Mom.”

Thankfully, Kali traded her attention towards Jaune and the Arc seemed to resign himself, opening his arms wide and giving a rueful look just before the older woman’s arms wrapped around him and squeezed. Damn him for not looking near as uncomfortable as it’d made her. “Hi, Ms. Belladonna.” Her attention darted from her mother hugging her husband towards where her father was coming forward. The giant of a man stooping down and her arms raising from her winded sides to wrap around his neck and give him a squeeze in return.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Blake. It’s good to see you doing well, even if it is still a bit of a . . . shock . . . to see you so different.” Her eyes rolled, though she couldn’t deny the smile that stretched her lips. Spending time with her parents was always embarrassing, but she would never say she didn’t love them.

Her gaze turned over as Jaune nervously chuckled, Kali leaned in with a smarmy look on her face. “Mom, please don’t embarrass Jaune.” She tried- she really did. Nonetheless, the four settled at the table and were soon treated to a server and orders. Blake pondered over the menu for a time, before something stuck out at her. Mushrooms stuffed with cheese to go with a baked fish dish. She ordered it, despite a set of confused looks on her parent’s face. Blake simply smiled gleefully, trying desperately to keep from clapping her hands under the tabletop.

She wasn’t sure why, but she was -starving-. And worse than that, the idea of something rich in cheese and carbs just . . . sat with her. Jaune contented himself with a simpler meal, though even he seemed distracted by something for a moment.

It was when their eyes met that Blake realized something. And that made her stomach fall out of her abdomen.

No.

It was the soft, desperate little whisper that said they’d been unsafe for three years. That there was no way they could reproduce- they’d been anything but mindful of it, and--

His eyes softened, and she saw her parents look on in worry as her expression became panicked.

The moodiness, the sickness this morning, cravings-

It can’t be.

The timing couldn’t be worse. No, in fact, that’s why it made the most sense. Her gaze, uncertain and terrified, turned unto him again.

And, without saying anything, Jaune took her hand and he grinned. And despite herself, she began to calm down.

“Are you okay, Blake?” Her mother’s concerned expression further tempered the swirl of emotions in her heart, until finally, Blake felt her eyes begin to tear up.

“Mom, I think I’m pregnant.”


	5. Crown Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake has steadily learned to become a troll, via hanging out around far too many sarcastic women.

Regency

Crown Five  
Effervescent

Her declaration was met with a sudden and unenviable silence. Her red eyes looking between the faces of her parents, then to Jaune’s shaky grin. And then it was all shattered as her mother came around the table like a lightning bolt and damn near bodily hefted her up into a hug that she swore would have cracked her ribs. “When? A boy, a girl? Come on, tell me everything!”

She looked towards Jaune, seeing him similarly frozen in place. Oh you useless son of a- She had to head that thought off. After all, he’d just been informed as well. It was just the moodiness showcasing an uglier head. She was thankful she still had her head on enough to be logical about it.

Oh gods, she was the Queen of the Grimm. If she had a mood swing, she could very well end the world because she was pregnant. Oh, this is going to suck.

She tried to respond to her mother, but frankly she was having trouble getting a breath in, let alone actually speaking. “Kali, she’s turning purple.” I love you, Dad.

x+x+x+x

They shelved the topic for a few minutes when food arrived- and Blake was finally able to breathe again outside of a Mom-Hug-Of-Doom™. “Um- I actually just… yeah, it just came up this morning, actually.” Blake finally admitted, setting her utensils aside after having utterly demolished a meal she would never have been able to finish. And I want dessert, too. Okay, no, this is bad.

Jaune was, at least, much more serene now. Though that was probably more him putting on a brave face than any actual stillness of spirit. She loved him dearly, but he wasn’t often the calm one in the storm. Well, maybe he is when I’m one the freaking out. “Morning sickness?” Kali asked, a tender look on her face. She nodded in response.

“I’ve been a bit testy for a month or two, as well.”

“Can you . . . take a test?” Kali looked just as lost as she felt, to be honest. There was absolutely no telling how human medical science would deal with her nature as being . . . whatever she was now.

“I can try. But- er-”

Jaune finally cut in, and the somewhat lackadaisy grin on his face said that he was saying something that would potentially upset her. “I think it’s real. There’s- well- we have this ability to sense the creatures of Grimm and- well- there’s this kind of, like, signal that’s coming out from Blake that’s not . . .”

Blake paused, eyes widening. Leave it to Jaune to pay that much attention to her, but it was a thought that warranted discovery. Letting her eyes close, she let that peripheral awareness of her senses move inwards. The feeling of her aura, her semblance, still there if twisted and changed. And then, there--

\-- a little spark of another color. She could even tell the difference. Her own darkened purple made for a fine backdrop against the little wash of sterling silver.

“I’m a mother.” Her lips quaked, her attention turning back into the world around her as she looked at Jaune, shakily bringing her arms up as she felt her eyes tearing up. “Jaune, y-you’re gonna be-”

He wrapped his arms around her, and she luxuriated in the feeling of her husband’s closeness. Of this moment where everything in the world just felt -right- again. Where they weren’t the King and Queen of the Grimm, where they hadn’t given up any hope of normal lives in favor of protecting the world from creatures of darkness by becoming the ones who directed them.

They were just a man and a woman, and she was pregnant. They were going to be parents. “A dad.” Jaune finished her thought, voice stuck between elation and panic.

“Congratulations.” Ghira’s voice rang softly as her parents closed in to join the hug, Blake unable to stop her ears from flicking to and fro in excitement and the tears from smudging her cheeks.

They’d thought it was simply impossible, but maybe it had just been -hard- for them. Interspecies relations were already a gray area, so who knows how their new nature would impact it.

Oh gods, were they going to be the progenitors of a new race? All with fluffy cat ears, pallid features, and an ability to control the Grimm?

The terrible twos were going to be absolute hell.

+x+x+x+

They walked her parents up to their suite in the hotel, Kali gushing and questioning on all facets of what they would do with the new life, while Jaune- bless his heart- all but grilled Ghira on what it was like to be a father. If she’d worried that her father would be overprotective and cold towards her husband, she was glad to see it wasn’t the case. She wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he was the father of Ghira’s grandchild, or if he’d just always liked Jaune over Sun- a fact she couldn’t really blame him for considering her tumultuous relationship with her old flame.

This wasn’t time to think about that, though. Now they had to tell the others. And Oh Gods, Ruby was going to flip. First, because they’d abandoned her and Yang to the mercies of Goodwitch, and second because they were pregnant.

This child was going to have way too many Aunts. Seven- eight if you included Nora- on Jaune’s side, and the remainder of Team RWBY making eleven.

Privately, she hoped it was a daughter. Sure, Jaune would probably prefer a boy considering the amount of estrogen in his life, but it’d just be easier to deal with.

Their little prince or princess… It made her feel tender. Tender enough that her hand squeezed Jaune’s in turn as her parents stepped into their suite. “We should tell everyone.” Blake noted, softly. Her gaze settled on him, and he nodded.

“I want to tell the whole world.” He said, and she knew he meant every breath. First, though, they had to get through telling the sisters and hoping nothing had gone awry with them leaving Beacon.

“Let’s get back to Beacon, we’ll tell Ruby and Yang, and we’ll place a call to Weiss. You can tell your family after that.”

“Should I use the Seers, or should we go see them in person?”

Blake winced, “Will we survive being dogpiled by the extended Arc family?”

“Seers it is.”

“We have our Scrolls, too, don’t forget we’re not in the Grimmlands. They’re not just hunks of plastic.”

+x+x+x+

She wasn’t sure what she was expected when they stepped through the portal into the Headmistress’ office, but finding Ruby alone in it with her feet kicked up on the desk wasn’t quite it. It was so perfectly Ruby that Blake only marvelled at the fact she had the metaphorical balls to dare put her boots on Goodwitch’s desk- even if the blonde woman wasn’t there to scold her for it. She hadn’t let go of Jaune’s hand almost since dinner, riding a pleasant high that she hoped would persist throughout the night.

At least until they got into bed. Then . . . Oh yes. Such a cuddling.

Ruby finally kicked off the desk and stood to her (not at all menacing) height as they appeared, pouting up a storm (even though she was probably trying to look pissed off at them.) “Where did you two go? You just up and vanished in the middle of the team announcements!”

“My parents were in Vale so we had to meet them for lunch.” That seemed to vindicate the little Reaper a bit, before Blake decided it was better to metaphorically tear the band-aid off quickly. “Where’s Yang, and Headmaster Goodwitch? We have some news.”

Ruby frowned, waggling a hand dismissively. “Goodwitch is doing a bunch of paperwork with some of the late arrivals, and Yang went out into Vale to go get drunk. We can try to call her, but I doubt she’ll answer- you know how she gets when she goes out partying.”

Blake certainly did. Though Jaune raised a brow in turn. Ignorance was bliss in that instance- Jaune had, sensibly in her opinion, never taken up one of Yang’s offers to go out to a club with her. He’d have thought it was a “few drinks and some dancing” instead of the “get hammered and then start a bar fight” Yang’s “parties” inevitably became.

Blake had been trashed on gin and breaking noses more times than she cared to admit. Especially to her husband. She’d let him live the illusion that his wife was a perfectly noble lady with an even temper and not prone to indulging Yang’s vices.

So maybe she’d loosened up a little since Beacon. It didn’t hurt anything. . . . that wasn’t the thugs stupid enough to pick a fight with two Huntresses, or the creepers suicidal enough to go grabbing at them.

Frankly, the more she thought about it, the more she wished she could join Yang just then. She’d be glad for the excuse to not drink due to being pregnant, but she’d miss the wild side of things for awhile. Maybe she’d have to have a girls night out with the group after the birth. Yeah, that sounded good.

Wait, what were they doing again? Oh, right-

“Well, I guess we can tell you now,” Jaune noted, queerly eyeballing his absent-minded spouse. She simply grinned nervously in response. “Ruby, we’re- ah- Blake is-”

“Pregnant.” She finished for him, heading off his nervous stammering as Ruby’s look became increasingly concerned.

And then stone still.

And then glowing.

She already sensed the glomp incoming. She stepped carefully to the side and pulled Jaune into the trajectory of Ruby’s Semblance-powered leap.

“TRAITOR-!” He yelled as the red-coded woman knocked him to the floor.

“OhmyGodsthat’sthebestwhendidyoufindout-” Ruby started babbling, clinging to the knocked-prone form of her husband. She offered a (falsely) apologetic smile to her fuming husband.

“Pregnant wife privileges.” She noted. Totally not gonna abuse that.

+x+x+x+x+

Ruby had insisted on being around for them telling Weiss, so they’d bargained into using the Headmistress’ projector with Ruby’s Scroll to facilitate the call. She was more likely to answer Ruby than either her or Jaune’s calls. Part of Blake thought Weiss wouldn’t even have their numbers saved anymore, considering they hadn’t really been able to use them for anything ignoring their trips to Argus. They were old enough to be out of date, even. I guess if we’re going to be out in the world more, we’ll have to get new ones.

As Ruby hit the call button and settled into a chair next to the two- all three turned to face towards the projector rather than the desk- she mused, “Here’s hoping Weiss will actually answer her phone. I was kind of hoping she’d have stayed away from the whole Dust business after all we went through, but I guess it was the only thing she really had left after Salem.”

Blake didn’t touch on the topic further. Weiss was her friend, it was true, but there’d always been a few lingering feelings of resentment amidst the group as a result of her and Jaune’s decision to stay in the Grimmlands. Blake wasn’t blind to the fact Ruby had grown a huge crush on Jaune, and that Weiss had been harboring some hopes that Jaune would be the man she needed in her life.

Alongside Yang and Sun, whom had both been adamant about her, it seemed the pair hadn’t been shy of people willing to try and start lives together.

It was a darker part of her that firmly thought, Suck it. I’m the one who purrs for him. And, even better, wrapping her arms around his and grinning more than a little smugly.

She’d blame it on the hormones.

As the call connected and Weiss appeared on the screen, it’d barely been a second before the white-haired woman began speaking. “Ruby, I swear to all the Dust on Remnant, if you’re calling me to-”

“WEISS!” Ruby leapt out of her seat, as excitable as always. “There’s super duper news! I hope you’re sitting down!”

The fact that they could easily see that Weiss was sat down at a desk only made Blake look as amused as Weiss’ stare was deadpan in return. Then, she noticed Jaune and herself, her brow raising before she leaned forward on her desk and knit her fingers together under her chin. “Jaune and Blake are at Beacon? Well that is -some- news. Finally able to come out of the Grimmlands?”

Jaune opened his mouth to respond, but Ruby was always the quickest out of all of them. “That’s not all! You’re gonna be an Aunt!”

Blake privately entertained herself with the sight of Weiss giving Ruby a look of scandalized betrayal. “Ruby, you’re pregnant?”

“What?! No, silly, then you’d be the god-mother. Blake’s pregnant!”

The silence that perforated the air of the Headmistress’ office- and the look on Weiss’ face as if she’d sucked a particularly sour lemon- made Blake struggle not to giggle.

“What.” The flatness of Weiss’ response nearly did in her self-control. Thankfully, those icy blue eyes turned onto herself and Jaune, and his free arm came up to rub at the nape of his neck.

“Ah- yeah. We just found out today, actually.”

“What.”


	6. Crown Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: A reminder that while this is overall a comedy “series” (and I do try to make you guys laugh), you gotta have some heaviness to make the light stand out. Plus, people wanted Jaune’s perspective, and his perspective is a little more dark than Blake’s is- purely because of the circumstances in the story. Not that I won’t try to make you guys laugh this chapter, but it probably won’t be a pleasant ride. Just a warning.

Regency

Crown Six  
Upset

Jaune slid along the halls of Beacon as the morning crowned. It was, well, quite a bit different from the huge and empty halls of their castle back in the Grimmlands. Students meandering towards breakfast or classes either slid out of his way or stared abashed at him as he passed. Rather than his “kingly attire”, he’d settled for a button-up shirt and pants formed from the primeval darkness. Of course, the fact that his feet melded into the shadows meant he could basically pretend he was barefoot.

It gave him something resembling a cute little thrill. Hahaha, eat him, rules! Ah, so-

Ruby had taken the news well- if a bit too energetically. He privately swore vengeance on his wife for pulling him into the line of fire like a meatshield.

He knew he was one already, but it was the principle of the thing, damn it. Ruby Rose Semblance Glomps™ hurt. Well- they’d hurt your standard human, at least. Jaune had just been extremely uncomfortable. Weiss’ response had been funny- if somewhat disappointing. He hadn’t missed Blake’s possessiveness during the call, either.

Jaune wasn’t -that- oblivious, thank you very much. Just . . . kind of dense.

Having seven sisters tended to inure you to the thought processes of women. You took the abuse, the teasing, the flirting, the nudity, and everything else with a stride and just did your level best to ignore the fuck out of that shit.

Indulging them only meant pain- and then Pyrrha had happened. Oof, there was still some trauma there. Granted, Blake had done a lot towards helping him move on from all of that. Since the night they’d sat together at Sapphron’s home in Argus after the blow up. Then his volunteering to be Blake’s protection during the time in Atlas.

Which had turned into dates. They were simple at first, cafes and bookstores. Then they’d steadily got more elaborate until their time in Atlas drew to a close.

That was when things had gotten . . . personal. There’d been quite a bit of drama at the time, tensions rising high due to the impending fight against Salem’s forces- and some trouble at home because the rest of Team RWBY had suddenly gotten more than a little sore at him.

He’d only find out later just why. But the night before they were set to leave Atlas, he’d gone to her room, and asked her what he had done wrong. Ruby made excuses, Weiss gave him the coldest shoulder, and Yang-

Yang had looked ready to murder him.

And Blake had softly taken his hands, and led him into her room. They stopped dating that night, and it became official. Fumbling, nervous adults who had failed to do something so teenage and dumb.

His senses came back into the present as he stood in front of the door, gently turning the door and sliding it open as he glanced at the nameplate beside it. Grimm Studies, Mr. & Mrs. Belladonna-Arc

No one was here yet, but he was already thirty minutes early as it was. Quietly, he tested the feel of the chair behind the desk and felt himself melt into the soft cushioned seat. Privately, he was amused at the sight of a cage in the room again. Memories of Professor Port filled his head before he settled his hands upon the desk and let himself drift back into reverie.

If he’d thought that getting intimate would have fixed issues- which he hadn’t- they hadn’t. It drove a nail into the coffin that housed his friendship with most of Team RWBY. They still had his back, and he had theirs, but the dynamic changed almost overnight. Weiss slowly became bitter towards him, Ruby didn’t open herself up to him nearly as much as she used to, and Yang . . .

She’d made it clear. In one fell swoop, he’d hurt her little sister and Weiss, and taken away a girl that Yang had started to have feelings for. To this day, he can still feel the ache of his jaw being broken by her and then him having to heal it with Aura.

That hadn’t scored any points with Blake, either. Very little ate at him the way that he’d nearly caused the dissolution of Team RWBY purely because he’d started having feelings for Blake.

Ren and Nora had been his only support through Atlas, and afterwards when they’d had to travel to Vacuo and then north towards Salem’s citadel. Blake had feathered between hot and cold with him because of the strain on the group, and he’d simply weathered the storm.

Some nights, Blake would come to him and others he would not see her for nearly a week. He panicked almost every night, and a good portion of the time it took Ren using his Semblance purposefully on him to calm down.

She was his first girlfriend, after all. And it seemed like for all that he was trying desperately to hold it all together, she was one word away from leaving him alone.

Jaune Arc would have died if that had happened. As it was, he almost did.

It was melodramatic at it’s finest, but it should be remembered that Jaune had two things worth living for after the Fall of Beacon. Revenge against Cinder Fall, and his friends.

He’d struggled with his own self-destruction, only coming away from it thanks to the work of Ruby, Ren, and Nora. Then Blake had helped him forget, helped him feel like not only could he love again- he was and could be loved as a man. Everything had come crashing down around him. His sleepless training sessions had stopped being a rare occurrence and they became a nightly ritual.

He’d been a magnet for Grimm the moment they’d stepped into the Grimmlands. At the time, that had served its purpose. He’d wanted nothing more than the mindless violence, and to protect his friends from harm. Cinder had come to him, decrying the annoyance that she had to deal with him rather than take vengeance on Ruby Rose.

He’d probably never be able to piss a woman off the way he’d enraged Cinder with the simple words, “You’re not worth her time.”

At first, the fight had been a battering he’d shouldered, but steadily he got traction and Cinder started to get sloppy. Her temper ruled her and made her weak- even Maiden powers didn’t fix a personality flaw that deep.

The first time Crocea Mors’ shifted two-hand blade had crashed into her without being deflected or dodged, he’d discovered a surprising fact about the woman.

Her Aura was brittle. That, or he simply hit that hard. One hit had been all it took to crush her defense, and then panic had set into her. He’d watched as fear flashed through her eyes and she drove him back with flames.

The second time he caught her, he exposed fatty tissue in her breast- she’d clutched at the wound and he’d taken the opening, feeling possessed.

Unlike at Haven, he didn’t flail like a fool. The blade spun and lodged in Cinder’s neck. Passion had erupted in him and he followed through.

It was in the midst of battle that Ruby suddenly gained the powers of the Fall Maiden.

His gaze turned back unto the present again as the first students meandered into the classroom, most of them nervously noting his appearance before finding seats. He tapped his claw-like nails against the top of the desk and glanced up at the clock on the wall. Five minutes until class. Blake had been ill again that morning, so he stood and let himself ghost around to the front of the desk.

If he was going to be a Professor, he was going to get to enjoy scaring the everloving fuck out of his students. Headmistress Goodwitch would no doubt approve, as long as he actually taught them about Grimm. And, who better to teach them about Grimm than the literal King and Queen of Grimm? No one, that’s who. Irony at its finest.

A few students piled in as the bell for classes rang, and he waited for them to find seats with a pleased- read: manic- smile.

“Hello, class. As you can no doubt tell, this is Grimm Studies. Your teachers in this class are myself and my wife. Since neither of us hold doctorates, and this is a new situation for all of us, you may simply call us Mister or Misses Arc. As you can see, my wife is not here this morning as she is suffering morning sickness-”

“She’s pregnant!?”

Jaune snorted with amusement. Turning glowing red eyes to the student who let out the outburst- earning a paling skin tone and a sinking into her chair- he noted, “She is, we just found out yesterday. While I would approve of any of you who would like to congratulate us, please do so outside of class hours. That said-”

He grinned, clapping his hands together. “In mirror of my old Grimm Studies professor, this first day I’m going to surprise you all. Who thinks they’re ready to be a REAL Huntsman?!”

+x+x+x+

Personally, he thought his first class had gone well. Granted, he’d wholly sniped Port’s little Huntsman trial and then proceeded to analyze the student who had (foolishly) stepped up to face the Alpha Beowulf he’d sneakily summoned into the cage.

Privately, he began to understand why Port could seem so eccentric. Fucking with students seemed to be the main way to keep oneself entertained with giving the same speech over and over. And he’d had to do the introductory to the class three times over the course of the day- though only the first one had gone by without Blake finally appearing, looking much more regal than he’d have expected considering the misery she’d acted out that morning.

The muttered, “Not. A word-” had the right effect.

He was a good husband, after all.

As their last class was dismissed for the day shortly after three, Yang had meandered her way inside and posted up at their desk, feet up on the top. “What’s up, love birds? Heard some juicy gossip from Rubes.”

Privately, he would have been anywhere else but around Yang, but Blake had a firm hold of his hand and he knew that he wasn’t going to be allowed to run away from this.

Honestly, he legitimately thought about chopping his arm off to do so anyway.

“What did she tell you?” Blake asked, offering a mild look towards her blonde former team-mate. Jaune had a dark feeling that this was about to go south quickly.

“Oh, just that we’ll have little blonde kittens runnin’ around soon.” Yang’s grin was both predatory and teasing. Frankly, he’d have been fine with the latter. It was better than the fight he knew was coming.

There was a good reason he tried not to be around when Yang had come to visit them, after all.

Sure, he was the King of the Grimm. He was still a vaunted and powerful Huntsman. He could probably -actually take Yang in a fight without using Grimm.- He had, after all, nothing but time to train and an endless supply of brain-dead minions happy to give him the ability to excel because they were -programmed- that way.

But fuck him if he would. That way lay no victory, only despair. If he won, no one would be happy with him. If he lost, no one’s feelings would be repaired and Yang would just have more ammo against him as not being good enough for Blake.

His self esteem didn’t need more bangs in it.

Blake’s free hand softly cupped over her abdomen, a soft smile on her face. “Yeah. Hopefully the first of a few.”

Despite Yang’s presence, his eyes went to her face and he squeezed her hand. It wasn’t perfect, but it was love.

And, damn it all, Jaune was going to be the best motherfucking dad ever.


	7. Crown Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: Regency is easier to update than the other stories because it’s generally less involved (more of a stream of consciousness piece, if that makes sense to you all.) That said, I’m amused by how many people responded negatively to RW-Y’s actions in the last chapter. I appreciate that my bit of story made you feel something like that for characters that are otherwise enjoyed. But, they were still kids, and even though they’re adults now, they’re all still- y’know- essentially traumatized war vets.
> 
> Ruby is still friends with them both, Weiss regressed to being standoffish as life moved on for her, and Yang- well- Yang’s always had a temper. She never learned to rein it in, and even the best person goes completely mental when that kind of thing happens. Love- even crushing- makes people act completely stupid. That said, we return to Blake’s POV this chapter and you’ll get to “see” what happened.

Regency

Crown 7  
Kiss of Death

It had seemed like utter nonsense when the Headmistress had proposed it. Of course, they were the King and Queen of the Grimm, so they were innately blessed with the knowledge of every POSSIBLE creature of the Grimm and how they operated, so having them teach the latest generation of Huntsman was- well- sensible in a completely insensate way.

It’d serve as a suitable disguise for them both, maybe. After all, the only people who knew them by face and name were RWBY-NR. The fact that knowledge had expanded outwards somehow could only say that the secret wasn’t so easily kept- or that something had happened to their friends after they’d remained in the Grimmlands.

The day they’d defeated Salem, Ozpin- in the body of young Oscar- dying with his so-called duty fulfilled, Jaune having killed Cinder, Ruby becoming the new Fall Maiden . . .

When the screech had begun.

+x+The Fated Day+x+

“Uh, guys?” Ruby’s panicked voice rang out loud and clear even though for all the world it seemed like everything around them was collapsing. Screams, shrieks, horrifying sounds of despair and rage filling the air. Pools of darkness bubbling and issuing forth Grimm after Grimm as those that remained began to charge indiscriminately.

It had always been one thing to fight groups of Grimm, they all were gifted enough to do so easily-

-but being swarmed by battalion after battalion of myriad dark shapes was beyond any of them. “GUYS WE ARE IN TROUBLE.” Pretty much everyone would have given Ruby the “no duh” look if they hadn’t -all- begun panicking. Hardened warriors they were, but prepared for this?

Not even remotely. And worse than that, they’d spent most everything in the fight against Salem and her cronies. The only one who still had anything resembling ability to fight left was Jaune- and if he used it to help everyone else . . .

The pounding of claws, hooves, and all other manner of instruments of death resounded against the dome of Glyphs that Weiss had made. It was a cacophony of approaching death- their own swan song for completing their own “great destiny.”

Blake felt cheated. No- worse than that- she felt angry.

Was this all they’d ever amounted to? Her friends, her family-

Jaune . . . She’d stayed away from him in order to lessen the pressure on him, and to try and bring the remainder of her team back together. It worked somewhat, but she knew it would never be the same. People grew up- and sadly that meant heartache.

A weak gurgle made her ears perk, and her gaze turn towards the bloodied form of Salem. A halo of once snow-white hair matted to the crystalline ground as glassy eyes perked towards them. Lips dripping blood curled into a smile- tragic in its amusement.

“D-hhiiii-dd… you think… it would- haaaaaa-lll be fine? Did- hhhhhh-eeeee tell hyuu that k-aahgk- illing me would make it all stop?”

Against common sense, Jaune stepped away from Weiss, his aura almost full depleted. He looked the most exhausted he’d been since their days at the Academy.

Her hand reached out for him, his name on her lips-

“What’s going on.” He hissed softly, falling unto his knees next to the dying Queen of the Grimm.

A disgusting, wet breath came from Salem’s throat. “No one… to lead t-ahhhh-em. Every -huaaaaan- aimless, attacking -haaak--” More blood spat up, coating a once beautiful face. The reddish-black coating her chin and jaw. “- everything not their own. Don’t- akk- you know? For Light to exist . . . Dark has to cradle it- hhhhak- like a baby…”

Salem tried to laugh, but it ended up coming out as a series of hacking coughs. Then her gaze had turned unto Jaune, and she had whispered something that even she couldn’t pick up.

But that had been when it had all went wrong. He’d reached out, quietly closing the former Queen’s eyes as she finally embraced the darkness that had been eating her for longer than anyone could remember.

Jaune had stood, solemn. His back had set, and she had known whatever he was about to do would make them all cry. “I have a plan.” He’d said, without any of the fire that had always preceded those wonderfully goofy words.

She’d been the only one at the time who had seen the signs. Ren and Nora might have, but she hadn’t had the presence of mind to assess them. Only Yang, Ruby, and Weiss. Jaune led them to the largest Pool of Grimm, carrying Salem’s body under one arm while the other held what had once been Oscar and had long since been transformed into Ozpin. At the time, she’d thought that the glimmer leaking out of their bodies had been their Auras-

But it had been magic. Magic seeping into Jaune. She should have known at the time, but she hadn’t- that had been the simple fact. Nothing she could have done would have stopped Jaune.

He’d laid the two side by side, perhaps in some gentle way of offering them the rest they’d deserved-

And then, gleaming with newfound power, Jaune had stepped forward unto the surface of the black- and she’d known in that moment she was going to lose him.

Someone she’d honestly grown to love, had longed for. She was losing someone else again.

He’d begun to sink and, as the shouts and cries filled the air- some of them his own- she’d thrown herself in after him.

There’d been no logical thought behind it, nothing at all thought out or reserved like she’d tried to be all of her life.

Only complete and utter horror at the idea of losing him. As their worlds had exploded into pain, darkness, and the erosion of their very beings, she’d kissed him and- in a flash of magic being shunted into her form- she’d whispered words that she swore she should have said earlier.

They became the next generation. She, Salem. He, Ozpin. The only difference between them was that both were corrupted, and both were immortal in the same way.

She never asked what the group had seen as they’d dragged themselves from the muck and into the air again. She didn’t need to.

They were monsters. But the Grimm obeyed, and the apocalypse was forestalled once again. Jaune told them to go, and even swore to find a way to help her-

But she chose to stay. She loved him- and she knew that loneliness had been the thing to drive Salem mad.

So, under their protection, the remnants of RWBY and JNPR returned- and the world would forget the sacrifices made for it.

The pyre that had burned away what remained of Jaune Arc, and Blake Belladonna. The words that Salem had whispered as her curse began to transfer the words metaphorically inscribed upon the pair’s tomb-

“Thank you.”

Jaune had always been too altruistic.

They claimed marriage shortly after they settled into the castle, and Blake wisely chose not to invite Team RWBY’s opinions on the matter. His family were just pleased he’d found the ability to get a girlfriend- as amusing as it would have been to correct them on how popular with the ladies he WAS- and her own were simply awash in the strange fact that she’d ended up marrying a human after dating Sun- and the short term mess that had been an experiment with Yang.

None of her team-mates would have been able to “forever hold their peace”. They still couldn’t- even though they were steadily becoming friends again. At least, with her. She still was -very- sore about Yang breaking her (at the time) boyfriend’s jaw. She knew Jaune wanted very little to do with Weiss or Yang anymore, but she did try to mend bridges.

She’d lament the fact they’d burned away long before she had any chance to do so. She couldn’t even blame Jaune. Those feelings had been natural before their change, and now after it- they were only to be expected. Negative emotions got amplified by orders of magnitude thanks to their dip into the Pool.

+x+x+x+

She’d agreed to teach the classes while he handled paperwork and test preparations. They had settled on cycling the responsibilities on and off, and he’d taught classes the first day, so today it was her turn to enjoy it. He’d taken the time to prepare diagrams for her, so the first -real- lesson of their Grimm Studies class dealt with the biology of Grimm rather than any one in particular.

She found herself enjoying it. After a day of getting used to her appearance, the students seemed to take it all in stride- some had even come up to congratulate her on her pregnancy. Privately, she thrilled once again at the thought. A child- their child. It reminded her, sadly, of the tale they’d heard about Ozma and Salem, and so she swore to remember it lest they end up the same.

By the time lunch arrived for the students, Jaune had finished the paperwork with a little bit of help from Ruby- the new Combat Instructor- so they agreed to take the hour and a half provided to go enjoy Vale. She agreed to meet with her mother for lunch, and Jaune was brought along under prejudice of having nothing else to do.

Contrary to the fancy hotel restaurant, they met at a little “Mom and Pop” store a short distance away from the Bullhead loading zone- which they didn’t take because Jaune actively had an excuse not to be seen throwing up in public for once- and settled in. With talk of grand-kittens out of the way, things were remarkably more normal than they had been the day before.

Kali teased them both, talked about how long they’d be staying in Vale- sadly only another day or two-, and then they’d broken off into discussions about visiting or other things to be done. Jaune told her about their “probation” as teachers at Beacon, which nominally came with a pay cheque (though they were ostensibly some of the richest people in Remnant because of the remains of Salem’s empire). She confessed that it was actually quite enjoyable, and that she at least would likely keep going with it if it continued to be pleasant.

Jaune had looked happy at that. She had to admit, it hadn’t been her first thought, either. A Professor at an Academy- when she was younger she’d believed thoroughly in changing the world, and had considered it only through force of violence and propaganda. It seemed stupid in hindsight that it always could have been as simple as simply teaching the next generation.

Maybe she’d try for a degree and take over Oobleck’s old spot? She’d help spread tolerance and equality for Faunus that way. Then again, if that fell through, she could always just start slaughtering offenders.

Queen privileges. The only thing better than diplomatic immunity was the immunity that came with being one of the strongest people in the world- and your husband being another.

Okay, that was dark, even for her.

They finished their lunch and saw Kali to her escort car, with Jaune telling her to either alert them through the Seer or give them a call when they got back to Menagerie and they’d find time for a visit. Her mother teased about doing so before the baby was born, and he laughed it off good naturedly while her own hand was drawn towards her stomach in thought.

Jaune’s line was of great warriors, she was the daughter of the Chieftain of Menagerie, and they were the sovereign rulers of the Land of Darkness alongside it’s population of Grimm.

Yes. Their little Prince or Princess. Would they be immortal, too? Gifted with magic, as Salem and Ozma’s children had been?

She thrilled to find out.

+x+x+x+

She found out that Yang had left Vale shortly after their last class of the day, as Jaune led them along to “spy on Ruby’s class”. Despite her misgivings, it’d been everything she remembered from her time under Goodwitch’s tutelage- though of course with Ruby’s own inherent energy and drive instead of the cool disciplinarian approach.

“Yeeaaah- who would’a thought that saving the world doesn’t pay the bills, right?” Ruby rapped her knuckles against her head with a lackadaisy grin as the students filed out for dinner and leisure time. “So Yang was only ever staying long enough to see you and then taking the first mission that paid well.”

To say she was conflicted about that wouldn’t be wrong.

“I don’t think Weiss would have ever let you starve or anything, Ruby.” Jaune noted, looking more than a little playful as he said it. The silver-eyed woman simply shrugged and grinned in return.

“Well, no. I have my Dad around, too, so I wasn’t in danger of anything, but- y’know- this was just better than being out on the road for so long. We did that long enough, don’cha think?”

Blake looked at Jaune, Jaune looked at Blake, and she knew he’d mirror her lazy smirk. “We wouldn’t know.”

Ruby had the good grace to look scolded. “Er- yeah- the whole . . . yeah, sorry, m’bad.”

Ruby Rose would never grow up from being a dork, it was just the way of the universe. “Well, I’m enjoying it so far.” Jaune said, raking his nails through his lengthened hair. “I’m sure some people would say we’re not qualified, but it’s actually kinda fun.”

The silver-eyed woman snorted, “Not qualified. Who the raw cookie dough Hell is more qualified than you two?”

Blake shrugged, “People are petty. We all know that the most. That said, the Vytal festival was last year, wasn’t it? Are we having a dance again here?”

Ruby blinked in response, rubbing her lower lip with a scarred finger. “I think it was, wasn’t it? Yeah- I think it was in Atlas last year… So we’ll probably have a Ball or something, yeah, why?”

Amused, she offered an open hand to Jaune, who simply rolled his eyes and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. “Yes, dear, I’ll take you to the dance.”

“Good. Because I’m going to be as big as a blimp by then.”

The little Reaper grinned with delight. “I am going to be the most awesome Aunt.”

Jaune looked stricken- and horrified, “I’m not liable for the war you’ll start by saying that.”


	8. Crown Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: Like a lot of people, I find Coeur’s names for the Arc family very fetching- the problem is that it defies the stated logic in the universe about people naming characters after colors in solidarity of expression. So, y’know, there’s the reasoning for that. Also, we’re in Jaune’s POV again this chapter.

Regency

Crown Eight  
The Family Arc

Despite his preference for a more muted start to their weekend, Jaune found himself settled in- once again- at a small cafe with his wife. A pot of herbal tea between them and a delicate slice of a citrus-flavored cake in front of the love of his life.

Frankly, with the way she’d acted when they came in, he’d expected her to order more. Granted, he was sure within the next few hours she’d want a proper dinner- one homecooked since they’d so far indulged in eating out and “enjoying” the school’s own dining hall.

He wasn’t going to argue. A chance to do something domestic and “normal” was just what the doctor ordered, in his opinion. Especially since they were waiting for his mother, of all people.

He hated the fact that he was nervous. Worse, he loathed that this was going to be a test of his patience more than anything else. He loved his family, not to be mistaken, but- well-

Jaune never really had forgiven them for their dismissal. It had been why he’d only ever talked as much to Saphron, whom had been one of his inspirations for leaving the proverbial nest.

Roux Arc was a hero and a warrior, but to Jaune, he’d been one of the greatest enemies of his life that wasn’t his own self. Cinder had never even compared, really. Jaune had never had the passion to hate someone else as much as he could hate himself. His father had only ever been the measure to fail by.

Even now, at twenty-five, Jaune couldn’t help but feel cheated.

A set of soft fingers gently closed around his fist- tightened unconsciously- and brought his focus back into the present rather than his own musings. Blake gave him a worried glance, and he offered her a shaky smile in return.

“We don’t have to do this.” The Queen whispered softly, and for that, he loved her more and more. Purposefully, he uncurled his hand and turned his hand over so that he could entwine her fingers with his own. He was privately glad it took a more conscious effort to summon Grimm, even though if he’d been out in the wild amidst them those emotions would have drawn them to obey his commands like he was a lighthouse.

“No, but we should.” He admitted. It wasn’t fair of him to deny his parents the chance to know their grandchild- no matter how he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. Both loved him dearly, even if they had helped to teach him to have no self-confidence.

As a blonde woman, face regal with just a few lines of age, stepped into the cafe with a spring gown on alongside a floppy-brimmed summer hat and a shoulder harness that he knew would be weighed heavily with his mother’s Dust-chambered sawed-off shotgun. Nevena Arc may not have been a premiere huntress like her husband, but they’d met through that lifestyle.

And then had seven daughters and one son- and lived to the ripe age of forty-five-plus. One had to give credit where credit was due in that instance. Yang and his mother would have gotten along famously, if Yang could have stomached being in his presence long enough. Or his mother could stop being overprotective.

Not thoughts he wanted to have right now, really.

Unlike with Kali, whose enthusiasm had bordered on pleased mania, his own mother was cool as she approached. Blake standing at his side as he did so and, feeling a tightness in his throat, he uttered, “Mom.”

Lips tinted with orange curled into a pleased grin, as arms wrapped around him and squeezed. Unlike Kali, there was no straining to escape, only the discomfort of her standing only a head shorter than him and the closeness that the woman who had given him life could offer. Pathetically, he patted a hand against her back and put up with it while his eyes turned towards Blake, whom seemed frankly more relieved that she wasn’t being assaulted with lung-crushing hugs again.

Traitor.

Thankfully, his mother either dismissed his discomfort or didn’t notice it as she moved to hug Blake as well. Gentle kisses were placed against both of his wife’s cheeks and a voice rich like honey came from her throat. “Hello, Blake dear. Welcome to the family, once again.”

Jaune’s father didn’t have a singing voice- though to be fair, the Arc children had all thoroughly favored their mother’s genes, it seemed. Eight blondes, while his father had red hair coinciding with his name. Of course, the even split between his mother’s gleaming green eyes and his father’s baby blues had been a bit more telling.

His attention remained settled firmly on the two women, watching with amusement while Blake’s vein-riddled cheeks flushed darkly in turn. “Thank you, Mrs. Arc.” His mother scoffed and- obeying vaunted “noble” manners- went to seat herself across from them while they settled back into their own seats. He blithely noticed that Blake had finished her slice of cake while he had been trapped in his head again. Gently, he adjusted the teapot and poured a new cup for each of them. First, his mother as their “guest”, second his wife, and then finally himself.

If he’d been obeying proper etiquette, it likely would have been Blake serving the both of them, but- frankly- fuck that.

“Mrs. Arc. Please. Call me mother, after all, you married my son.” Nevena noted, nursing a drink from the tea with a somewhat sour look on her face. He could only look amused- his mother heavily favored sweetened teas and doctored coffee. It’d only really been at Blake’s insistence that he himself had moved away from sodas and heavy sports drinks to simplistic herbal tea.

Gently, he slid the little carafe of honey around the tea platter until it was in his mother’s view. She gave him a wry look, but nonetheless hefted her tea-spoon and began to dose her drink. “If you insist.” Blake noted, obviously just as nervous as he’d been when he’d finally met Kali and Ghira for the first time in person. Softly, he settled a hand upon her thigh and stroked down to her knee to comfort her.

“So,” Ah, business was starting, then. “We’re finally getting a grandchild out of you two. A little blonde kitten soon?” His mother’s glimmering green eyes settled unto Blake as she found her next sip of her tea more approachable.

“Unless they take our new coloration.” Blake agreed, “Though, history has said that shouldn’t happen.”

His mother raised a brow in question, but he waved a hand and got her to dismiss the query likely to come from her lips. “Your sisters are all thrilled.” She opted for instead, looking nonetheless pleased. “Of course, I know you’ve talked with Saphron far more than the others, but you know how news travels amongst our family.”

Like a wildfire, yes. He thought privately to himself. Even with most of the children out of the ancestral home in Ansel, it took one text to -anyone- in the family and all of them would know before the day was out. That had been part of the reason he’d been so against contacting any of them until they’d ended up in Argus with Saphron.

His beloved older sister had been the only one who could remotely keep a secret, and even he knew they’d hardly arrived before Saphron had told the family that he was well and with her. He didn’t need to spy on her to do that-

-even though he had. It had been a dark place in his life, after all. He’d been worried sick about Team RWBY- and that anxiety hadn’t vanished at all until he’d managed to get that call through.

Clearing his throat, he spoke, “How are you and father feeling about it?” Blake’s gaze turned onto him, and he knew she had caught onto how he addressed his parents. Not that it had ever been anything but obvious, in his opinion.

“Oh, I’m thrilled,” Though, even with seeing his mother’s smiling face right in front of him, he found himself doubting her words. “Roux seems a little standoffish about it, but I’m sure by the time we have a little Huntsman running about, he’ll stop being such a pout-lord.”

His smile felt strained. No, that was being gentle. He felt like he was vanishing into his thoughts on purpose- and he knew it wasn’t making Blake any more comfortable. Not only was she his wife, but she had the ability both as an Empath and a creature that fed on the negative emotions of people- just like the Grimm.

He must have been a boiling pot right then. The downsides of magical powers- you couldn’t turn them off.

Despite how obvious he felt he must have been, his mother steamed forward and talked about his sisters’ reaction to the news, and then onward into discussion about other things. His sisters dating, though none truly seemed to be as lucky as he or Saphron had been. Talks about how Ansel had grown due to an influx of families away from Atlas as a result of the SDC expanding operations.

That drew his thoughts to Weiss, though thankfully they were thoughts more easily banished. Gently, he reached out for one of Blake’s hands and took it again as his emotions thinned back out in the face of small talk that had less to do with family.

+x+x+x+

“You’re brave.” Her voice filtered into his ears as they walked along Beacon’s promenade. It felt good to actively indulge in the feeling of using his feet instead of propelling himself the way he’d started to do subconsciously. It used less “energy”, not that they went dry of it- but it also helped to alienate them further from the people around them.

“I don’t think so.” His self-confidence had never improved that much. “A brave man wouldn’t have felt like pulling teeth over just seeing his mother again.”

His gaze turned onto her, and caught the wry- amused even- look that crossed her features. Blake would have been upset with him if she could read his thoughts about how catty she looked just then. She’d probably blame Yang, though. “Yet you did it. Even though I can tell you didn’t want to at all.”

Against his will, a sigh pushed free from his throat. They were mostly alone on the walk as it was beginning to turn into evening, and most of the students were either at dinner or had already left for their dorm or trip into Vale for the weekend. “I love my mom, don’t get me wrong, but-”

Blake’s catty smile melted into a more down and grim grin. “You live in the past too much.”

“I do.” He agreed, squeezing her hand once again. Their height difference was more pronounced when they were so close together, and for a moment he felt her head brush against his bicep. “Thanks, Blake.”

“Nothing to thank me for.” He disagreed, fervently. His hands came away, making her look confused for a moment before his hands settled on her shoulders to drag her in-

-and crane himself into a kiss with her. The soft appeal of her lips against his own reminding him just what there was to look forward to in the present, the future.

For a moment, he forgot the world around them, his hands travelling further south and inciting a soft little whimper from her that drove him wild. A portal to their room, and then he pushed her down on the bed. A grin on his face, and a purr in her throat as they made yet another mess.

+x+x+x+

“Hey, you guys, let’s go for breakfast--- OH OKAY YOU’RE BOTH NAKED IN BED, I’LL COME BACK LATER--!”

Jaune could only crane his head up from the pillow, wondering idly how Ruby could even access their room in Beacon’s faculty living facility. As a soft hand came up and gently trailed along his jaw, he decided it didn’t matter.

He had to give his wife the best kind of good morning.


	9. Crown Nine

Regency

Crown Nine  
Sterling Silver

Blake wasn’t sure what was more entertaining, that Ruby had walked in on them after a marital night (which turned into a marital morning), or that she was -still- blushing by the time they settled down at a table in the teacher’s “lounge” with breakfast. Privately, she hoped the silver-eyed warrior got a good view. Mine!

Possessive thoughts aside, she put her attention back on her book as she meandered her way through her meal. Jaune, at her side, was content to nurse a cup of doctored coffee after having already finished. Apparently tired of the embarrassing tableau, he spoke up, “My mom came into Vale yesterday.”

Her ears perked as Ruby shuffled in her seat, likely happy to have an out from her own shyness. “Ah, yeah! The baby, right?”

She didn’t need to see Jaune’s nod, pausing her meal to flip her book’s page. “She also hasn’t seen me in person since I left for Beacon. Just through the Seers and the occasional Scroll call.” Through her peripheral view, she saw how Ruby stiffened in her seat and even got a rather complicated look on her face.

“You . . . haven’t been home in almost eight years?” It wasn’t fathomable to Ruby, Blake was sure. She only had her father, sister, and uncle in the world- being seperated from them like she had her mother would have been unbearable for her. Comparatively, Jaune’s familial situation was- not HOSTILE per se, but--

“No real reason to.” Her husband mused, carefully judging his throw and trashing the empty paper cup with a grin she knew he’d wear for such a silly thing.

Blake knew that Ruby would love nothing more than to say something about it, but she glanced over the top of her book and gently shook her head at her former team leader. Some things couldn’t be fixed cleanly. It was good enough that there was love and care- forcing reconciliation would do more harm than good.

Privately, Blake was pretty sure it would take Roux Arc dying for Jaune to forgive him wholly. If the Arc patriarch apologized, Jaune would accept it, she was sure, but it would be empty at best. It was perhaps the only grudge Jaune held now that Cinder was dead.

Frankly, if they’d told the world the nature of their powers, people would start to question just how often the places attached to the Arc name came under attack. Argus every year, Ansel whenever he would be forced into contact with his father. Blake was glad that her own issues had generally been taken care of before their “ascension to the throne.” Petty feelings didn’t direct the Grimm as much as the deep seated resentment that came to the fore when his father fussed at him--

\-- or when his mother thoughtlessly reminded him of how he had been denied as good enough. He’d been “too important”. The only boy amidst a clan of girls, one of a noble lineage.

He’d told Blake once about the expectations on him, to produce an heir. That’s all that had ever been expected of him, and it had led him to become lazy and unmotivated as a child. His interests had only ever been allowed to be “safe”. Dancing lessons with his sisters, culinary tutoring, etiquette and heredity lessons, music and entertainment tutors.

Blake was pretty sure her thoughts were far more negative than they were meant to be, but she could only privately think that he’d been treated like a home-grown stud waiting to be put to pasture. Processed for breeding. Sure, it seemed for all the world like the Arc family was a happy one and there was love to go around--

\-- but part of Blake wondered if Roux and Nevena Arc had ever cared about what her husband wanted. They hadn’t stopped him trying to get into Beacon, but they’d never helped him. He’d arrived with no knowledge, no training, and nothing terribly resembling familial support. Of course, he’d admittedly run away from home to do so, but . . .

If it hadn’t been for Pyrrha, the most sensible thing to have happened to Jaune would have been death. They should have at least unlocked his Aura, or even just taught him a little self defense. He had always been cunning, and people listened to him when he spoke, so she couldn’t fault where his upbringing had worked.

Her attention tuned back into the conversation going on between Ruby and Jaune, realizing she’d gotten awashed in her own thoughts once again. “So, with it being the weekend, what are you going to do, Ruby?”

Closing her book after placing her mark in the page, she tucked it into the purse she’d carried with her- formed of darkness once again, but hey, who could blame her for enjoying an unlimited wardrobe? “Well, with Yang gone for probably the next few days still, I was gonna see if you two wanted to go do something. Do you know how long it’s been since I got to do anything fun? Weeks, Jaune. WEEKS!”

Her attention diverted unto Jaune, the former blonde leaning back in his chair with a grin on his cheeks. “Ruby, your idea of fun tends to involve food fights, real fights, or explosions.”

The pout he got in return was to be expected. Blake still smiled, despite foreseeing it. “Hey! That’s more like Yang.”

“So you’re saying it’s familial.” Jaune snarked. “But,” He glanced over at her, and Blake rolled her eyes. “Sure, we can do something. I have to cook dinner tonight, since we’ve done nothing but eat out or in the dining hall, so you can join us for that. Until then, how about we go see a movie? I bet we can catch a good matinee.”

+x+x+x+

Despite Jaune and Ruby having argued for what seemed like an hour over the movie choice, Jaune had brought her into the discussion and had conceded when she pointed at a Mistralian martial arts film (“Aw, come on. She’s your wife, of course you’d pick what she picked!”). If she were more of an art appreciation person, she would have been thrilled with the production values-

\-- but frankly, she’d just known Jaune and Ruby would love it. She didn’t mind, so she half-heartedly watched while her mind drifted off again. Amused with the occasional burst of glee from Ruby, or how Jaune’s hand squeezed her’s when he offered her a smile.

It said something that Jaune was more enthused to see her own parents rather than his. Granted, not that she could blame him. Her mother was so friendly with most people that she was all but disarming, even though she knew for a fact she was just as much of a hellcat as she herself was.

She’d gotten an obscure mixture of her parents’ personalities, to be sure.

Ruby whooped as another fight scene kicked off, and she crossed her legs one over the other while bringing her soda to her lips with her free hand. A discreet glance at her husband showed that he was fairly enthralled- though perhaps not as vocal about it as Ruby was.

Menagerie would be very interesting for the two of them. Interracial couples were rare as it was, but she was the Chieftan’s daughter. Their reputations would precede them, to be sure. Both of them were “heroes”, even though very few knew of their natures. From what she’d seen, they’d been all but declared dead, even. Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Ren, and Nora had all had public appearances- they’d been drowned in accolades and publicity both due to their wild adventures and their own pasts.

She and Jaune had been the only ones to escape the public eye- understandably so as not to cause a panic and an outcry. Even now, they were hiding who they were with explanations as simple- but flimsy- as Semblances.

It was true in a way, after all.

They were talked about as if they’d died. Blake could remember watching the interviews, how each one of them had shut down quietly when it came to talking about them- the few times they were asked about, that was.

Mostly her being asked about in Menagerie, if she was honest. She hated to think what it would have looked like if only Jaune had not come back. How the world forgot him as unimportant.

He got his wish. He was a hero, but one no one would ever remember. And one day they would be the villains. They hadn’t stopped the apocalypse, only delayed it. And, just how would the “Gods” see that, she wondered?

Maybe it was foolish of them to try, but they were the King and Queen. At this point, there was no stopping it. Only hoping that they wouldn’t fall prey to the same despair and empty need to destroy Salem had.

+x+x+x+

Their next stop on the day trip was less mundane, Ruby dragging them along to a huntsman store where she’d loaded up on a case of ammunition for Crescent Rose and gushed over the latest designs. Blake had ended up admiring a well-forged blade that reminded her of the weapon Yang’s mother had supposedly used- a blade lengthier than Adam’s. Though, from what she’d heard about Raven Branwen’s weapon, it had a rotary dust chamber installed in order to exchange blades, whereas the one she looked at seemed to be more akin to a magazine-like form.

Such memories were best left in the past where they belonged, really. She did miss Gambol Shroud, it was true, but weapons were hardly things they needed anymore. Not that she could fight anyway, with their child on the way.

“Huh. This looks like my Mom’s.” Her ears perked, attention turning towards where Jaune stood with Ruby looking at a display case piece. Stepping over towards her husband and friend, she let her eyes drift across the weapon in the glass case. She hadn’t gotten a good look at Nevena Arc’s weapon, but she understood the basic nature of it. A modified shotgun designed to quick-load and fire dust cartridges. The one in the case was whole, complete with its full barrel length and stock.

“Your mom uses a real relic, huh?” Ruby mused, blinking those silver eyes at Jaune. “A Chevalier model, these were super popular during the Great War.”

Her eyes turned onto Jaune as he snorted, obviously amused. “We’re a family of the classics, yeah, I guess. Crocea Mors had been in our family since the days of the King of Vale. Mom is kind of like Yang is- but without the fancy mechashift weapon.”

Both she and Ruby blinked, though only her former leader spoke. “What do you mean?”

“She punches like a train.” Jaune remarked, blithely. “You’d never guess it from how seriously she takes the whole “noble lady” thing, though.”

Blake personally couldn’t see it. Sure, she’d had all the grace and austerity of a woman who held the Arc name should- by her limited understanding of noble lineage- but she could never imagine the “genteel Arc matriarch” starting a bar brawl.

It was a funny mental image, to be sure. Then she superimposed Yang over it and things started to make a whole lot of sense- like why Jaune wanted so damn little to do with her blonde former teammate.

“Is it just you, your mom, and dad who were Huntsman?” Ruby asked, and Blake could see how Ruby thought herself a bad friend for not having known before. Blake would’ve soothed her with the knowledge that Jaune hadn’t really told her much either- it was a topic he avoided like the plague.

“Nah. My oldest sister, Camellia, went to combat school. We don’t talk about her, though.” Frowning, Blake mentally returned to the memory of the family picture at Saphron’s home. The oldest sister, the one in the red shirt? Camellia made sense, then. A smug, self-assured grin on a girl likely already a teen or even a full-grown adult while Jaune had been maybe eight or nine at the time.

“What happened to her?” Blake cursed herself for letting her mouth run off without thinking like that. Though, Jaune’s light shrug showed it wasn’t as big of an issue as she feared it might be.

“Don’t know. She hates Dad’s guts, so the only ones who talk to her are Saph and Mom. From what I know, talking to Mom is like marching out to face a death squad for her, and Saph just tells us that she’s doing okay.”

So it’s not just Jaune, then. Blake mused, looking to Ruby who seemed to have more she wanted to say, but finished placing the delivery order for her ammo and parts before they left the store. Noon had passed them by, so it seemed that their next stop was probably going to be back to Beacon.

“Let’s get some groceries for dinner.” Jaune noted, “How do you two feel about shrimp and chicken curry?”

“Anything sounds better than the standard Beacon lunch.” Ruby muttered, prompting a laugh from her husband. Blake rolled her eyes, but nodded. Then, she was struck by what felt like inspiration- but was far more likely was a craving.

“We need to get some ice cream.”

+x+x+x+

The great and powerful Queen of the Grimm, hungering for dairy treats. What was her life turning into? Dinner was great, Jaune’s cooking wasn’t divine by any means, but he certainly had paid attention to his childhood tutoring. And now, here she sat with Ruby enjoying a bowl of vanilla with chocolate shell atop it while they watched an inane comedy that had her friend giggling fairly often. It got her to smirk a time or two as well, but frankly she was more pressed about the sweet treat.

“You know, usually it’s the people who don’t cook who do the dishes.” Jaune remarked from the kitchenette portion of their “bungalow.”

“Pregnant wife privileges.”

“Guest privileges.”

“Oh, I see how it fuckin’ is.” Jaune remarked, though he didn’t sound nearly as annoyed as his words made it seem.


	10. Crown Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember that random student? She gets a name.

Regency

Crown Ten  
Mentors

There was always bound to be something to go wrong. To be honest, Blake had always presumed it’d be laid at the feet of Ruby failing to keep her mouth shut. Not once did she ever expect it to come at the hands of Weiss- a thought that she mentally corrected right afterwards.

No, Ruby had very rarely been the cause of trouble in Team RWBY. It’d always been her, or Weiss. This kind of thing shouldn’t have surprised her at all.

“So, wait. Let me get this straight.” Blake braced herself for a Ruby-patented “I told you so”. “You steal control of the SDC out from under your younger brother, and you -didn’t think he would try and assassinate you?-”

When she put it like that, even Blake had to admit it sounded sketchy. Granted, they were the ones sitting in a conference room at Beacon at- she didn’t even bother looking at the clock- Fuck Oh Clock in the morning.

Weiss’ irritated grimace on the other side of the Scroll call only made her roll her eyes. Ruby was putting on her best impression of her Uncle Qrow when he was about to be a jackass- a damned good one in her opinion- while Jaune was sat comfortably to her right. They’d been dragged, bleary eyed, out of bed by Ruby.

At least it’d been important enough that her former team leader had ignored the fact that she’d run into them nude again. One day, Ruby would learn that they -tended to do that, being married and all.-

Besides, they could summon new clothes at will. Nudity was refreshing.

“Well, it’s been almost a decade, you would think he would have tried -before now-.” Weiss remarked, the look on her face saying just how much of an excuse it was. A set of pitch black nails settled onto the table-top and she began to tap them idly. Her red gaze went from the video feed of Weiss pacing around a -very- familiar safe house (Ah, memories. She and Jaune had become official there) to her husband as he seemed to languish under his sleepiness.

She felt that. She felt that on a deep level. Granted, if Ruby or Weiss asked him to, he’d be there to help her in moments, but so far Ruby had just been acting incredulous. It was- in so many words- comedic genius to see Ruby dressing down Weiss for once.

She wished she had popcorn.

“Weiss.”

“I KNOW, OKAY? But I’ve been- y’know- BUSY. And, well- obviously I haven’t been as up on my training and-”

“Weiss.”

“. . . so yeah, I’m mostly safe and everything, but they’ll probably try again.”

“Weiss, you have a hole in your dress the size of a Beowulf claw, your hair is still smoking-” A cry of indignation was followed by the snow-haired woman patting down the smoldering bit of her once beautiful “war braid”, “- and you made me wake up Jaune and Blake at-” Ruby turned towards them and noted, “Pardon my language- FOUR OH FUCKING CLOCK in the morning. And they were naked in bed, and I -totally don’t need to know about the love life of my friends, okay?!-”

Oh, wow. She is -pissed-. Blake mused, the inherent amusement in the fact broken up by the fact that Ruby- Ruby “Raw Cookie Dough Hell” Rose- had cursed. “Do you need our help, Weiss?” Blake decided to cut off the mess before it escalated into the two former partners yelling at one another.

“. . . Maybe?” From the fact that Ruby looked like she might have a conniption in the next few minutes, Blake slowly craned her head towards her husband, unable to help the -extremely- dry look she knew was on her face at that point. From the way Jaune looked back at her in turn, she knew that she had rubbed off on him too much. They both probably looked too tired to put up with the same old shenanigans from before the battle with Salem.

“Love of my life,” Blake noted, unable to help the smile that stretched her lips when Jaune rolled his eyes and started to stand before she finished. “Do your pregnant wife a solid and go help her dumb former team-mate for a few days, and not only will I take care of your half of classes until you get back,-”

Jaune, already getting ready to summon a portal to the safe house in Atlas, paused meaningfully. If he’d had cat ears like she did, she knew they’d have perked up at her pause. He was so easy to read.

“I’ll do that thing I only do for you on your birthday.”

The shadows coalesced and Jaune vanished from her side and appeared on the other side of the portal about as fast as Ruby could move with her Semblance, a sizeable blade constructed from the same outrageously strong material that made up Grimm armor held comfortable in one arm as armor covered parts of his flesh in turn.

“Come on, Weiss, let’s kill your brother and I can be back to Beacon in time for lunch.” His voice came through the Scroll while the portal winked out of existence and Blake turned her gaze back unto the video feed where Jaune began dragging Weiss off screen.

“We- we can’t -KILL- Whitley, he’s my brother--”

“Weiss, your brother is a dick who tried to have you killed. You’re asking the King of the Grimm for help, and Blake promised me--” The feed cut off as they left the safe house, Blake rolling her eyes as Ruby blinked, cut the call, and then- with a look on her face half a mixture of confusion and half wariness- asked.

“What do you do for him on his birthday?”

+x+x+x+

“Attention students, Combat classes today have been cancelled, training areas one through four will be open for self study-” Blake glanced up from her last test to be signed off on, idly wondering what she’d pick for lunch today. After blowing Ruby’s mind (apparently too much, if she had asked Goodwitch to cancel her classes for the day) she’d gone back to their room and caught the remainder of a cat-nap (Damn it, Yang) before she’d had to do their first class at Nine AM sharp.

The fact she’d come in alone had been an entertaining sight, since almost immediately all of the students had looked on edge and then she’d settled in behind the desk. She didn’t even need her feline ears to -hear- the collective sigh of relief from her first period.

What was Jaune -doing- to them? Sure, he’d passed out a study guide for the test today on Friday, but as far as she was aware, he’d not done anything to terrify the students. Not since the eight-headed King Taijitu, anyway.

She paused. Or the Queen Lancer. Or the Alpha Beowulf- Oooohhhh . . .

+x+x+x+

Time without her husband was spent in a bit more lackadaisy a manner. Not quite as isolated as when they were primarily at the castle, but instead of laying about with him while reading, she found herself returning to an old haunt. Beacon’s library, where she glided through the bookshelves and picked her way through a few until she found something interesting worth reading and then began to move herself back to a chair.

Was it strange that she was married and still reading tawdry romance? It wasn’t, right? Ehh-

“Um, Mrs. Arc?” Her gaze turned up from the pages of her novel, unto a dark-haired girl in Beacon’s cute little uniform. I doubt I’ll be able to fit into one when the baby gets bigger. This may be the first time ever in my life that I’ll have been -fat-.

That was an odd thought to have. Oh- right, she was being spoken to. “Yes, Miss . . . Kin, was it?”

The girl nodded her head, nervousness written on her features. Those red eyes reminded her somewhat of Qrow’s somewhat pinkish-red eyes, though for the life of her the first thought she had was of Raven Branwen herself. “Yes, ma’am. Kuroe Kin.”

A Mistralian girl, right. She let her thoughts drift a bit, trying to remember anything in particular about the girl she’d seen or heard- and coming up frankly blank. I wonder if Jaune would know? “What can I help you with, Miss Kin?”

The girl gestured to ask if she could sit, and Blake had to remind herself this wasn’t a friend of hers in order to not roll her eyes. She gestured with a free hand while she carefully parked her fore-finger in the middle of her book so she could resume it when whatever business the girl had with her was done.

“You married Mister Arc, right-?” Fighting the urge to roll her eyes -SO BAD-, “Um, what was . . . he like? When he was here in Beacon, I mean- he was partners with Pyrrha Nikos, right?”

Ah. Things began to become clear after that. “You came from Sanctum?” Waiting for an answer, she continued when she received a nod, “Are you asking about my husband, or about Pyrrha Nikos?”

The embarrassed look she received made her wonder if she had ever been so -blatant.- She was pretty sure that, yes, she had. Giving up on her book for the moment, she set it upon the table in front of her. “Have you ever been to her monument?” The question drifted from her lips before she had time to process the thought. Her eyes drifted over the girl’s shy features, noting how she flinched when it became obvious that she was being stared at.

“Not . . . in a while, ma’am.”

“We go every year.” Blake admitted, raising a leg and crossing them both. “Like clockwork. If Pyrrha hadn’t died, I probably wouldn’t be Mrs. Arc.”

Apparently that was far too heavy a statement for the girl, as she paled. That brought Blake pleasure for some reason- no, she knew exactly why. She’d become vindictive- vengeful. Pregnancy hormones didn’t help her moodiness. “So, Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos were-”

Blake felt her lips pull into a wry smile. “Nope.” She even put a Ruby Rose brand pop on the P. The confused look on the Mistralian girl’s face made it so worthwhile. “Pyrrha really did want to, though. I’m afraid I can’t tell you much about her, though-” She leaned in towards the girl, knowing that her eyes were beginning to glow with a smoldering anger, “- and I have to ask you not to ask my husband about her. It’s a sore subject that will probably never fade.”

Getting comfortable again upon noting Kuroe’s fright, she picked her book back up and tried to find where she’d left off. “But, to answer your original question. He was hopeless. He could barely fight, knew next to nothing that he should have known, and failed utterly at socializing with the people he wanted to be friends with.”

“What? But, he’s so well-known and-”

Blake nodded her head in turn as she finally found her spot, resuming where she left off. Ooh, the first chapter and already descriptions of nudity and tearing bodices? That was promising. “Pyrrha was the one who encouraged him, became his mentor. He and I, we read together in the library and he talked to me from time to time, but we did not get close until much later. It was actually in Argus that we even had our first heart to heart conversation.”

The soft sound of paper as she turned a page, noting Kuroe’s blank stare at that admission. “No, it doesn’t sound very romantic, does it? It took us almost two years to actually talk to one another for the first time. And we did it after he’d gotten mad when we were all at his sister’s home.”

Kuroe’s stare turned into a soft frown, her voice almost like a whisper. “But you seem . . .”

“In love? Happy?” Blake mused, turning another page. Descriptions of adult affairs without going into outright carnal language briefly registering in her brain. “Yeah, it wasn’t a whirlwind romance or anything. He had options, I had options, but we . . .”

She frowned. The book wasn’t any good, she set it on the table and left it to be forgotten. She felt her ears pin back for a moment, and tried to relax despite the awareness of how much she was divulging. “We dated. He made me laugh, he put up with all of my weirdness- my insecurities. It wasn’t fast by any means, and there was a whole lot of nastiness involved at the time, but . . .”

She shrugged, turning a more placid gaze upon the student. “If you want to live up to the memory of Pyrrha Nikos- find someone to love, and do it openly and honestly. She may have been the strongest and most talented of all of us, but the thing she knew the best was how to see the potential in someone.”

Mood ruined, Blake stood and brushed down the creases in her dress. She saw how Kuroe’s eyes followed her as she began to ghost her way out of the library, pausing only long enough to gently squeeze the girl’s shoulder as she left.

She missed her husband, and he’d only been gone a little over half a day. Despite how she knew he was fine, Blake couldn’t help but realize how attached she’d gotten to Jaune. And how hard it was to be her usual cool self without him nearby. Without knowing that she could rely on him to be there to smile and get her to giggle when he’d inevitably do something stupid.

With Ruby waylaid, Yang off on a mission, and Weiss in Jaune’s hands, she only had one recourse really. As she returned to their room, she dialed her mother and set her Scroll into the docking port for their display.

A little teasing would be fine- it might even take her mind off the fact Jaune wasn’t back yet.


	11. Crown Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go from bad to worse, and Blake is still not good with Dealing With It. Next chapter will be Jaune's POV and we'll see a much more amusing light to just how things are going down.

Regency

Crown Eleven  
The Bomb

Contrary to Jaune’s optimism, and Blake’s hopes, two days passed. Blake fretted more and more, and she had to admit that it was becoming telling in that Ruby had started posting up around her when they weren’t doing classes. The Maiden obviously trying (and thus failing) to distract her from the absence of her husband.

She knew he was fine, nothing short of the Relics could kill him- and all four had been expended and were useless for who-knew-how-many decades or centuries until they were functional again. But that did little to alleviate her worry.

He was her husband. He was her husband. She loved him. She loved him so much that she’d done this to herself.

She became aware of how unstable she was as her emotions grew and roiled out of control by virtue of the taint amplifying their negative emotions. It was a powerful thing for her, since they fed on those emotions and used them as a power source, but it was also a warping mindset to have. To feel that power bubbling beneath the surface--

\-- and then she felt that little sliver of silver inside of her, and she began to calm herself once again. Everything would be fine. He couldn’t go. Weiss might lose her life, but not him.

She could mourn Weiss. She couldn’t lose Jaune.

x+x+x+x+

It would always come to a head, she knew it would. Their lives could never be peaceful. Always a battle, always fated to explode--

Her sights stuck fast on the face of Glynda Goodwitch as she and Ruby sat in the Headmistress’ office in the rebuilt Beacon Tower, while Yang was stood nearby, leaned up against a wall with one foot on it and her arms crossed under her bust.

It roiled. Everything felt so extreme, so intense. Everything except the world around her. Glynda’s words sounded like a droning insect while her head pumped with every time her heart beat. She couldn’t tell what was being said, but she knew the arms of her chair were in pieces and her hands had become claws sheathed in white bone.

What was going on?

“Blake.” Ruby’s voice broke through the haze, her attention coming unto her former team leader. From the way she flinched, Blake knew her eyes must have been absolutely awash with her own power. She wasn’t sure she could even control it in that moment, though she tried to calm herself and banish the darkness within.

“Ruby?” Why did her voice feel like it was echoing in her own head? She felt miserable. Furious. No, she felt -everything.- She was so awash in sensation that it was actively giving her a headache.

A small hand fitted over the armor on her wrist, and Blake began to realize that her hands were shaking. “You’ve got to breathe.”

The reminder was unnecessary, but it was what she did anyway. It didn’t calm the sea within her, but it did give her the ability to sense the world outside of herself once again. She dismissed the clawed hands, flexing her real fingers as the ache in her vein-riddled digits showcased that she was still- in some way- “human”.

“Weiss will be okay.” Ruby remarked, gently. Who cares. Who cares. WHO CARES.

“Ruby.” Yang’s voice cut in, and Blake turned in her seat, eyes flashing to the blonde instead. You hurt him- you hurt him- you hurt him- I’LL KILL YOU- “She’s a fugitive. Again, actually.”

Blake’s attention went from Yang towards the display on the screen, the image of a dour Weiss Schnee in a pristine white suit with the Schnee emblem penned to her breast on the video feed while some pomp talked about the repercussions. An Atlas news outlet all too happy to talk about the story, even while there was no sign of her husband. She knew he had to still be with Weiss somehow, but that didn’t help the way the situation was affecting her.

And she knew it was affecting her. She wasn’t blind to the turmoil inside of her, or the way it was poisoning her thoughts against everyone around her. The hate of Yang and Weiss, dispassion towards the situation Weiss found herself in. It was all clear signs of how she wasn’t handling the situation at hand.

Jaune . . .

“So what are we going to do?” Yang noted, bringing the conversation back onto topic. Blake’s feline ears perking as she tried to focus back onto the world around them rather than her own building unease.

“Mister Arc is with her,” Glynda’s voice was calm and assured, though it was telling that she was reclining back in her seat with a look of exasperation on her features. It was nostalgic, in a way, to see her so fed up with her team once again. “So she’ll be fine. The character assassination aside, the first thing he would have done if they were in actual danger would be to come back here, or to have gotten in touch with Misses Arc.”

Blake agreed. Ironically, rather than Ruby’s soft-hearted pleas, Glynda’s dispassionate assessment made her feel better. Jaune would have used his Scroll, or a Seer to have gotten word through to them somehow. Frankly, the larger problem was that Jaune couldn’t deal with political combat. Anything else, he could have handled with ease- but this was . . . well, it was not an arena any of them could contest in.

Weiss was the only one fit for the job, and the problem therein was that Weiss herself was the problem. Whitley had tried to have her killed, and then proceeded right to divulging facts that should have been silenced when he couldn’t take over the SDC from Weiss’ cold hands.

Facts like her involvement with Jaune and herself interspersed with insinuations that Jacques Schnee’s untimely death had been at her behest. A lie that could be disproven with even a bare hint of evidence--

\--but the public didn’t care about evidence. Blake understood that well, from her years dealing with the White Fang. Even to this day when the revolution that she’d dreamed of and the bloody swathe it’d become in Adam’s hands were discussed, some used it as an excuse to decry one side or the other. A vacuum in Faunus Rights that had both helped the general populace, and harmed the dream of her parents.

How sad, that the truth that she and Jaune were married and the rulers of the Grimm could have perhaps been used to help start righting those wrongs. The fact that the family that held the great evils of humanity at bay was one made of Faunuses- that she, Ghira Belladonna’s daughter, had fallen in love with and married a man who wore the regal and storied name of Arc.

Sad. Disappointing. To be expected. Remnant was doomed, and she and Jaune were the executioners hoping desperately that the stay they’d fought for would be extended long enough for the world to be judged worthy by Gods that perhaps did not even remember they existed.

Disgusting.

For a moment, those dark feelings abated and her heart went out to Weiss once again. Gently, she settled onto her feet. The three other women in the room turned their gazes unto her, and she realized they’d likely been continuing the conversation around her.

“I’m going to get in touch with Jaune.”

And try desperately not to think just how right Salem had been, and just how wrong Ozpin had been, in turn.


	12. Crown Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jaune is a serial killer, and the SDC falls all the fuck apart.

Regency

Crown Twelve  
The Prodigal

“Weiss! Look, look at them run! Totally a new experience for me!” Jaune was feeling particularly gleeful today. After a day and a half of hunting the errant pain in the asses who had been hired on to try and assassinate Weiss, they’d finally cornered the remainder of the group inside of a repurposed military office.

Well, He said “they”, but he meant himself, really. Weiss had become woefully busy with trying to salvage the PR angle of the Schnee Dust Company after Whitley had- well- basically enacted Scorched Earth tactics.

He had to hand it to the little bastard, it took a lot of guts to throw your sister under the bus so hard you set everything on fire. Then, for good measure, put on a bomb vest and jump into the fire.

A bit egregious, but in Jaune’s opinion, apt. What kind of moron would air Weiss’ dirty laundry when it would do nothing but cause international panic? At least so far, everyone was taking it as what it appeared to be- an insensate smear campaign to consolidate power. If he and Blake were lucky, people would be more focused on discussion of Weiss’ few criminal acts rather than on her involvement with a former member of the White Fang- or the discovery of the Seer hidden quietly away in her office.

All of the remainder of Team RWBY and JNPR had at least one Seer to abide by, since their Scrolls had not worked in the Grimmlands. Ruby and Yang NEVER used their’s, and Nora and Ren used their’s only as often as they did because Jaune refused to fall out of touch with the two people in the world besides Blake who cared about him. Weiss didn’t get in touch near as much as she should have, but he personally didn’t blame her. Running a company must have sucked.

Oh well--

“I see that, Jaune, now do you mind -not- luxuriating in hunting down people like rabbits? It’s rather creepy.” Weiss’ voice through the audio link was amusing in it’s temerity. Frankly, it made him nostalgic. Hefting the great bone blade, he rolled his shoulders and neck while he took off in pursuit of the men who had dropped their guns.

Bullets? Really? What were regular bullets going to do to him? Tickle?

Silly sons of bitches. Not even paid enough to use proper Dust weaponry. Jacques would have been disappointed.

+x+x+x+

Rife with the negative emotions of the assassins- more like thugs, really- Jaune had slithered his way through a portal back into the safehouse where Weiss sat, head in her hands. Awash for a moment in memories- most of them not good- he let the armor and weapon fade away back into the inky black of the clothes he formed from the shadows. “You know, we could just kill him and have it all done with. He started the whole hostile takeover thing.”

A pair of icy blue eyes stared blankly at him as she raised her head from her hands. She looked tired- well, no, exhausted was more descriptive. Bags circled under her once pretty eyes, and her hair was fluffed out into a wild curtain of silver rather than the braid he’d once helped her style if Ruby wasn’t available. “Jaune, we can’t just murder my brother because he tried to murder me.”

Despite himself, he squinted at Weiss.

“We can’t.”

“You sure.”

“Yes, Jaune. I am not my father.”

“To be perfectly honest, Weiss, I’m pretty sure your father would have murdered him before he got the chance.”

“That’s- a fair point, really.”

Their quip-trading was interrupted by the sudden inclusion of a jingle, Meow Meow Meow- Kitty comes calling out to be fed- The silver-haired woman hefted her Scroll and sank it into the display unit for the TV in the safehouse.

The fact that Blake shortly appeared on the screen made his expression go deadpan at Weiss, “The ringtone for Blake’s phone is the Kitty Kraves jingle? Really, Weiss. Really.”

“Shut up, Jaune.” He couldn’t help but start laughing, nearly flooring himself as the blushing woman answered, “What do you need, Blake?”

From his position on the floor- suffering from an acute pain in the sides- he couldn’t see his wife’s response, though he could hear it as he began to calm down. “Well, my husband back would be a good start. But, we’re all kind of worried about you. After all, we did just see on the news that you’ve been getting smeared all over for being in league with a bunch of criminals and the Grimm.”

As he struggled up unto his feet using a chair as a crutch, he watched as Weiss buried her face in her hands again. Her voice was muffled, but she spoke up clearly enough that it was obvious she knew she needed to be heard. “You think I don’t know that? All of Atlas thinks I had my father assassinated, and that I did it in league with the enemies of human and faunus kind. It’d have been one thing if it was one, but Whitley went and blabbed about the Seer in my office. The stupid boy, doesn’t he know this is going to cause an international incident? The SDC will collapse.”

And then the power vacuum would likely cause an implosion- or an explosion, he wasn’t quite sure which. Needless to say, Dust prices would skyrocket as SDC stocks failed and that was before the fact that Weiss wouldn’t be able to do much of anything about it even if she reigned in control and got rid of Whitley.

Yeah, this was one big fuck up. Atlas was lucky to be a flying city, otherwise the general panic and negativity would have brought every Grimm for a metaphorical light year around into attack. It didn’t help that -he- was here, too. Well, it did in that he could minimize the ones that did end up straying into Atlas’ flight space, but--

\--frankly he didn’t care enough to keep doing so. Sure, he’d had some fond memories of Atlas, but as a whole, Jaune could do without it.

His attention turned onto Weiss, giving her a light squeeze of the shoulder as his eyes then moved onto the display with Blake seated at a table. “So, on the bright side, I haven’t gotten plastered all over the news yet, so we can salvage that much.” He noted, using his free hand to throw a thumbs up which earned a dour roll of his wife’s eyes.

“Ruby and Glynda are going to have a cow when you get back, you know. I just left out of the Headmistress’ office, and I’m sure that Yang’s been saying nothing but “I told you so” since I left.” Her feline ears flicked, and he admired the way she could look so regal even under pressure like this. The separation was hard for him, but he’d been able to mitigate it with- well- frankly unhealthy amounts of violence.

Nothing like beating up some bad guys to work through your anxiety. Doctors recommend it.

Weiss’ head rose from her hands, the woman letting out a dry grunt, “I don’t even know what to do about this. If it hadn’t been publicized, it would have been as easy as talking Whitley down, but now the entire company is going to go up in flames if we don’t douse the fire. And JAUNE’S suggestion to murder Whitley isn’t helping!” The annoyed glance she shot at him simply made his attention turn unto Blake with a grin and a shrug.

“Bad husband.” He deflated, pouting.

“Aww come on, he started it.”

“Bad.”

x+x+x+x+

Another day passed with Weiss having to try and play the political game, while Jaune grew bored to death with a lack of things to do. No matter how she arranged secretive meetings with the military, the press, or elsewise, the metaphorical fire raged and the news that weren’t paid off spun conspiracy theories that frankly came close to the truth now and then.

The one about her being part of a harem of darkness gave him a laugh just as hard as discovering her ringtone for Blake did. That had been -priceless-. He’d kept the magazine far away from Weiss, though. That way lay pain and misery. He’d have to hope Ruby and Yang didn’t see a copy, either. Well- Ruby would maybe get a laugh out of it. Yang would try and kick his ass.

Again.

Thankfully, by the time a week had started to pass, the fracas began to peter out and- discovered through an inside source according to Weiss- the SDC was taken over by a board of the remaining executives. Apparently both Whitley and Weiss were now under investigation of Atlas’ government and military, and that meant one very unfortunate thing.

They couldn’t stay in Atlas. Either of them being discovered was bad- but BOTH? Forget the scare of news outlets, confirmation would be like the Fall of Beacon 2.0--

\--and Jaune wouldn’t even have been doing it on PURPOSE.

“Looks like you’re bunking with Ruby again.” Jaune noted pleasantly as Weiss arranged the last of her luggage, and the personal accounts she’d set up “Just In Case”. If he didn’t think she’d give him a big fat “I told you so”, he would have lauded her for being so prepared.

Weiss Schnee hadn’t been poor since she’d gotten cut off. And even then she’d had far too much support to live a life without her needs. Ironic that, at least this time, her life was being upheaved with a little more control. A private little part of him luxuriated in vengeance-by-proxy, but he did his level best to ignore that dark whisper.

A portal of shadows was thrown open, and he stepped on through back into Beacon proper. They’d deal with the fallout and the mess later. Right now, it was “secure safety” time.

+x+x+x+x+

His return to Beacon had been amusing. Blake had treated him like a teddy and their students had insisted he -never leave them again please dear Gods why did you go--

\--he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what happened while he was gone to make them -want him around-. But, since they’d been good, he settled for making a test of a more mild project where they were to use an artistic skill to make a representation of a Grimm- any Grimm. To say there were quite a few masks made would not have been a lie.

The full-blown reunion of Team RWBY was amusing, at least. The girls had gotten right back into their dynamic without even a breath to be spared. Ruby bolted about in excitement, Yang teased and mothered, Weiss tried to be the voice of sense and reason, and Blake simply went along with her former team’s antics. It seemed even years of separation didn’t change THAT particular breed of sisterhood.

But then, of course, he’d have to get involved. He’d tried to stay away from it all, in respect of their friendships, but Blake was clingier than usual and he could only blame it on pregnancy hormones.

Thankfully, it seemed that Weiss without the stress of the SDC on her back- at least until they could figure out how to retake it or at least clear her name- was a more fond one. She wasn’t quite yet at the level she had been of making wry jokes and being actually outgoing, but he actually got to enjoy a sit down conversation with her for more than five minutes before she would inevitably find something else to do.

If he could have brought Yang back around, it would have been a victory- but neither he nor she were willing to bridge that gap. Blake wasn’t going to encourage him to do so, either. Ruby might have, but he got the feeling that ship had long since sailed.

They would tolerate one another at best, and while that was sad, Jaune preferred it to the alternative.

“Girls night out!” Ruby crowed, while his gaze went up from grading projects. He felt a severe sense of doom, but when he glanced at Blake- adorned in a more casual looking dress- he shrugged.

Surely Team RWBY couldn’t draw attention just going out to dinner and doing something fun.

. . . Wait.


	13. Crown Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not a Girls' Night Out with Team RWBY without at least ONE fight. Also, I finally stopped being lazy enough to find the tweet that inspired this again. So thank Gorillageek at tumblr for putting this dumb ass idea in my head.

**Regency**

**Crown Thirteen**

**Loud**

  
  
  


Dinner should have been quiet and pleasant, but even Blake knew that thought was an errant one. Put Ruby and Yang in the same room, and nothing would be expected to go quietly. Add in Weiss, and it was always a recipe for a night to go from mundane and idle to outright chaos in a span of minutes.

Thankfully, “disguising” Weiss was as simple as her putting on a set of aviators and- after a haircut- a beanie that hid her white hair. The fact they’d chosen a less upscale restaurant had been a pleasant alternative to Weiss’ constant insistence that they always go someplace “nice” rather than even something as simple as the sit-down Mistrali restaurant that she privately liked a lot.

_ Jaune and I will have to come here later. _ She mused, as she nursed a glass of milk tea to keep her hunger at bay. Yang was enthusiastically going on about a battle with some renegade Huntsmen she’d happened upon on her latest outing, while Ruby and Weiss occasionally dropped in with sarcastic quips.

Against her thoughts, Blake let her lips pull into a smile. Team RWBY being back together like this was . . . it was nice.

As their meals arrived, and she let her fingers roll unto her fork- registering the soft tingle of her wedding band against the metal- she took her first bite as Yang paused in her story to enjoy her own noodle-heavy dish. It was some kind of heavily spiced fish dish that her own “tender pallette” wouldn’t have been able to stomach. Blake enjoyed some heat, but Yang truly seemed to love torturing her stomach with ulcers.

It fit her personality to a tee, however. As did Ruby’s taste for sweets, though Weiss was the one who had a supremely telling sense of taste.

Weiss, despite her “austere disposition” (the former Heiress’ words, not her own), loved comfort foods. She couldn’t count the amount of times the white-haired woman had indulged in sauerkraut and heavily savory things that would have -clung- to another woman’s ribs.

Not that she could say anything, there. When she became round with child, it’d be the first time she’d ever weighed over the same as a wet rail.

The benefits of being a Faunus, she supposed.

“Since we’re all here,” Weiss began, pausing after a sip of a much more muted white wine, “It’s time we had “proper girl talk”. As the first amongst us to marry, Blake, I’m forced to ask-”

Blake sensed trouble in the immediate future.

“- You’re pregnant now, and you’ve been married to him for awhile, how -is- Jaune?”

Since she’d just talked to him shortly before they left Beacon, Blake -knew- where the woman was going with this, though she couldn’t help but feel a little surprised at the CEO being curious about their love life after being one of her opponents in the arena of Jaune’s heart.

It must have showed on her face, since Weiss snorted- a most unladylike response in her opinion. “Yes, I can ask. It’s been years, I can get over a man.”  _ Unlike some people _ , was almost cattily thought to continue after those words.

Ruby leaned in, but- of course- Yang looked only cursorily interested in the goings on- and likely more for the sake of teasing material rather than any real interest. Blake shook her head, deciding that they -were- full grown women, and it wouldn’t hurt anything to indulge in a little juvenile gossip.

This would never get back to Jaune, anyway. She still blushed as she thought of how to answer, however.

“At first we both kind of fumbled about,” She admitted, “But, over time, we got very good with one another. Now, it’s- well-” Gods, why was her face so -hot-? “- it’s . . . nice.”

Ruby muttered from her side of the table, probably as red as she herself was. “It sure doesn’t look just “nice”.” Blake had to hide an amused smile behind her glass at her former team leader’s “trauma”.

“I have to agree with Ruby, you’re not saying anything substantial.” Weiss noted, a smirk on her face that would’ve been at home on her mother’s teasing face.

Blake gave up hiding behind her tea in favor of shoveling a bite of her food in order to give herself a moment to breathe and collect. World-ending plots? Casual lunch conversation. Her marriage’s sex life? Terrifying and embarrassing. Ugh. She didn’t hate the light feeling that had settled in her heart and stomach, though.

“Jaune is . . . attentive. And, when he gets in the mood, it’s very- he’s-”

“A beast?” Ruby playfully noted, tapping her forefinger against the tabletop while a wry look rested on the younger woman’s face. Blake nodded in response. “That’s what I expected, considering what you told me the other day.”

Blake looked to the side. She should have never told her what Jaune’s “special birthday presents” tended to involve. No matter how much fun it had been to see the girl’s brain metaphorically explode over something as simple as a few bedroom implements and some rather enthusiastic dirty talk.

Who knew adding a collar, leash, and some . . . things that would have never agreed with Adam, Sienna, or- Gods forbid- her parents would make Jaune -so much more- than just her dorky husband? She’d never admit that she found it just as exciting as Jaune always did.

She would take her stand on that hill. Her birthdays came with massages, home-cooked meals, and lovemaking. His? His were nasty. Delightfully so.

A purr rose in her throat, unbidden, which soon led to an even fiercer blush as all three of the other women at the table raised a brow at her.  _ Shit. _

_ _ Privately, she remembered the fact that it’d been his birthday only three months ago. EVEN MORE PRIVATELY, she wondered if maybe Jaune’s birthday had been the catalyst for their child’s birthday.

She still owed him that, too. Tomorrow, she mentally promised. The teacher’s dormitories were soundproofed, but not -that- soundproofed.

  
  
  


+x+x+x+

  
  


That conversation had drifted onto a more mundane topic, since Blake hadn’t been able to get out a word in edgewise after the -look- she’d gotten from the three. Dinner itself had ended well, and then they’d moved on to shopping. Blake dreaded shopping with the other members of Team RWBY, but thankfully she had an excuse to not be dragged here and there by her friends- which she abused heartily. It was only going to be nine months, so she thought to milk it as much as possible.

Damn how she’d still inevitably ended up with three bags of her own thanks to her friends’ pushiness, though.

The bags had been sent back to Beacon while they made their way to their next locale. Yang had fought hard for a trip to a club, but she’d been vetoed by the entire rest of the team under threat of Blake’s pregnancy- which apparently was being used as an excuse by Ruby and Weiss now.

She felt so used.

Nonetheless, they’d instead ended up at a bar of a different breed in order to appease the blonde. It was a more muted little place with music and what many called “a connoisseur's air”. Yang threw back two of her beloved Strawberry Sunrises, while Ruby nursed a single glass of a heavily sweetened cherry cocktail, and Weiss settled for a vodka-rich drink that stank enough that Blake was sure she didn’t need enhanced senses for it. She’d instead gotten a soda, hoping against hope that Yang wouldn’t get too spooled up on only two drinks.

Frankly, she should have remembered that alcohol and the two half-sisters never went well. Ruby was the one amongst them who couldn’t really handle liquor, though Weiss was a close second.

She had a very fond comedic memory of an inebriated Weiss in Atlas grabbing hold of Jaune’s junk. At the time, she’d been -exceedingly- jealous, but now it was just funny.

But yes, it should be noted that sugar and alcohol together tended to make the effects that much more pronounced. She should have remembered that before shit hit the fan, because- as all things that involved Team RWBY inevitably- it did. She could at least later admit to the pleasure that dinner and the shopping spree had gone off without a hitch BEFORE something happened.

Even if that was a bar brawl with Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose, and six drunk men that didn’t have enough brains between them to not hit on them. Blake was just sad that she didn’t get to involve herself in the melee like old times.

Having a front row seat to the bare-knuckle toss-up was almost as good at least.

  
  


+x+x+x+

  
  


“I’m disappointed in you girls.” She’d lied. Seeing Jaune chastising the three other members of RWBY was way better than a little fisticuffs. The police had been called and the bouncers of the bar had seen them and the (heavily bruised) men out. No charges had been filed because- well- that kind of thing just tended to happen at a bar no matter how upscale it was, but if her friends had thought they were going to get off scot free (ignoring a few bruises where they’d actually taken a punch or two) they’d been wrong the moment they’d gotten off the Bullhead back to Beacon.

Jaune had been -waiting for them.- With the most darling expression of outright fatherly fury on his face. He’d made all four of them march up to their room, and then promptly sat the three women down on their couch and let her watch as he stared all three down while they looked at their hands in their laps like scolded teen girls.

The fact that they were all- barring Ruby- twenty-five and fully legal adults didn’t mean a damn thing to Jaune Belladonna-Arc.

He was not King of the Grimm, he was King of their collective asses- except her, since she’d- well- sensibly stayed out of the fighting due to the risk to their unborn child.

Chalk another victory up for pregnancy as an excuse.

Blake had to keep from looking smug as all hell.


	14. Crown Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN: You can bet your sweet fucking ass that I am NOT using Jaune’s stupid fucking volume 7 redesign. WHAT IS THAT HAIR? DAMN IT, ROOSTER TEETH. Knowing those assholes, they’re only going to give him a whole 3 minutes of presence in the volume, too. And part of me thinks it’ll be to kill him?!
> 
> Some slice of life interaction between RWBY and Jaune, and NEXT CHAPTER!?

**Regency**

  
  


**Crown Fourteen**

**Light**

  
  


Ignoring the dressing down he’d given them yesterday, Team RWBY seemed overall to deal with things well. Weiss was bored out of her wits in Ruby’s room while classes resumed as the week began in whole again. Light talk of the Ball had begun, though it was still slated for near the end of the year and they were barely reaching the end of the first semester.

Blake had made a joke about ordering a dress, but Jaune had just cast a deadpan look at her when she’d went on about how it wouldn’t fit by the time the Ball rolled around. She really was focusing far too much on how she’d change weight-wise with her pregnancy.

Fishing for compliments, much?

Nonetheless, he found himself once again teaching class without her. He was sure that Blake was probably somewhere with Weiss, since as far as he was aware, Ruby was still teaching classes and Yang had run off into town again.

Not that he minded -that-. They hadn’t had an all-out brawl yet, but Jaune saw it in the future. He didn’t even need magical clairvoyance for THAT. The less time he spent around Yang Xiao-Long, the less likely it was going to end up in fisticuffs.

“So, I have a new specimen for you all today. Who wants to come up and get some practical experience . . ?” He grinned when he saw that no one raised their hands like people had the first- or even the second or third- time. Dithering his finger about, he selected a student “at random” and ignored when they started to sniffle.

“Oh, don’t be like that. It’s all a learning experience.”

  
  


+x+x+x+

  
  


It was during the last class of the day that Blake arrived, Weiss in tow in her “disguise”, though he privately thought such a thing wasn’t likely to work. He’d been proven wrong before, of course, but hey-

-he couldn’t be blamed for people who didn’t pay attention for longer than five seconds. Besides, these were just students. How much did any of them care about Atlesian Politics? Probably not much.

The fact that Weiss was glowering at him as he pulled the cover off of the cage and revealed the Chiron within- a horse Grimm that was likely one part of the basis for a Nuklavee, if he had to hazard a guess as to Salem’s thought processes- while Blake just seemed resigned said all that needed to be said about his teaching skills.

Poor Kuroe Kin was volunteered by her teammates, and he could only offer the girl a smile of amusement as she got her mechashift Naginata and stood while shaking like a leaf for him to open the cage.

“I hope you did your homework over the weekend, Miss Kin.” He did not gleefully say, opening the cage as the creature charged at the Raven Branwen-lookalike.

She’d be -FIIIINNNEEEEE-! Glynda hadn’t complained yet. Though she’d given him a few sour looks, he knew very well that he and Blake had some of the better test scores- especially in comparison with Port’s old nap-time lectures.

Her squeal of fright was met with a wince by the class collective, and he settled idly unto the front of his desk. Blake had stolen his chair, and Weiss was leaning against the back of the blessed leather thing while the dark-haired girl did her best to try and evade charge after charge.

Boarbatusks were more armored than Chirons, but Chirons were faster by a fine degree. They also could turn on a dime, unlike the unruly spiked creatures.

“Is it really fair for you to be- no, wait, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you, Jaune?” The white-haired woman remarked, glowering at him through her aviator shades.

“Just consider it paying evil unto evil for the new generation, Snow Angel.”

Both Blake and Weiss rolled their eyes, though his wife had an indulgent smile and Weiss complained no further.

That was as good as an endorsement, in his opinion.

  
  


x+x+x+x

Against his will, he was made to cook dinner for the entirety of Team RWBY while they talked lazy shop. Well, he called it “talking shop”, but really it was just their usual jibes and lackadaisy girl-talk. The normalcy of the whole thing made him feel more comfortable, even if he was happy to complain about doing all the work while the women enjoyed themselves being waited on hand and foot.

“Come on, lover boy, you should be used to taking care of women.” Yang snarked, and he could only roll his eyes. She wasn’t -wrong- per se, but still.

The downsides of being a henpecked husband. Good side? His wife was rarely actually upset with him, and she tended to be a huge cuddler when she was happy with him. Cuddling often led to nakedness, and where nakedness came, Blake got enthused.

Four years strong, and their sex life was pretty damn great, if Jaune could think so. Totally not biased since she’d indulged him in “birthday sex” last night, either.

“Kitten would know a lot about that.” He deflected, turning a playful red eye towards his wife, who shyly hid behind a hand full of playing cards. A soft little utterance of his name alongside a nuclear blush only made his grin widen.

“I’d say get a room, but this IS your room,” Ruby remarked, putting down Three of a Kind. Weiss made a noise of utter disgust as she threw down a King High. Yang squinted, but only had a pair of tens. Blake glanced from side to side before letting go a similar discontent noise as she put down a pair of sevens.

He wasn’t allowed to play Poker with them anymore, under accusation of cheating. He took no blame for the four being sore losers. The only person he ever cheated against was his sister Jade, and that was because it was the only way to get something resembling a fair game out of his more tomboyish sister.

He swore her Semblance had to be some kind of preternatural luck, even to this day. She won a lottery when she was fourteen, for Gods’ sake!

He wasn’t still upset about her not using any of it on him, either. Not petty at all.

Tacos were the meal of the night, in keeping with RWBY’s bad tendency of not having a food they’d all agree on, so he’d simply made something modular to abate the four women’s tastes. Fish for Blake, Chicken for himself and Weiss, with ground steak for Ruby and Yang- with extra of that stomach-rotting hot sauce that only Yang could love.

Yes, even though he and Yang didn’t get along anymore, he still wouldn’t deny her. It’d just lead to a fuss, and then a fight. Jaune wasn’t -stupid-.

“Foods ready, girls. Help yourselves, or help yourself out the door.” He remarked, already stacking his own plate with a triple set of chicken, cheese, lettuce, and bean tacos. He started to turn, only to get an eyeful of glimmering red eyes from his wife. Letting out a sigh as the other women stood, he prepared a plate for his wife and settled it in front of her before taking a seat to her right. Her easy smile was a fine reward, even if he felt just a little used.

Yes, he’d still buy into the “pregnant wife privileges” thing, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be cheeky about it.

Ruby, like a hurricane, got hers first through the use of her Semblance. “You’ve been practicing a lot, Jaune.” She noted, after swallowing down a bite before she’d even sat back down. Yang and Weiss were a little more even in taking their time, Weiss because of propriety and Yang because she piled hers high and then made sure to douse the whole thing in more rich red than a trip through a former enemy hideout.

He nodded his head to Ruby as she settled in, waiting to chew and swallow before speaking again. “Nothing but time to practice fighting, cooking, and other fun things, Rubes.” He explained, “Now that we’re back in civilization, we can do things other than- you know- things that involve just Blake and I. . . . And modern appliances.” He glanced to the side, shuddering at the memory of Salem’s castle being as outdated as it was.

Learning to cook in a giant cauldron was -hell.-

Blake gave a mildly smarmy look as he caught her with a mouthful of his EXCELLENT, if he may say so, cooking. “Plus, there’s no Noir to feed table scraps to.”

Ruby blinked, responding through stuffed cheeks, “Mohrr?”

“Swallow before speaking, Ruby.” Weiss cut in as she settled back into her seat, kicking a leg up over the other. “But yes, Noir?”

“Our housecat.” Jaune noted, ignoring the way his lovely wife snorted next to him.

“How did you keep a cat alive and safe in the Grimmlands?” Weiss asked, about as incredulously as he expected her to be. Before he could finish his bite to speak, Blake spoke up.

“Noir is a Sphinx Grimm the size of a building. Don’t let him fool you into thinking it’s any regular cat.”

Offended, he noted, “He is our sweet darling little baby, and I will thank you to remember that, beloved wife.”

Blake’s rolled eyes were only mitigated by the amused smile that stretched her pale lips as she bit into her meal again. “Only you, Jaune,” Ruby noted, looking confounded, “Only you.”

Yang finally returned to the table, her own tacos looking like a bloody massacre as a result of all the hot sauce she’d drowned his poor culinary skills in. Though from the way her face damn near turned just as red on the first bite, he could only presume that she was enjoying it. “Never took you for a cat person, Vomit Boy.”

“We weren’t allowed pets back home,” Jaune admitted, “Same with a lot of modern gadgets and stuff. Eight kids- way too much potential for fighting.”

Ruby blinked, “Wait, you’ve never even had a pet before?”

He shrugged, washing down his latest bite with a bottle of chilled Mistrali tea, “Zwei was the first animal I ever was around for more than minutes at a time. Until Blake, anyway-”

He took the punch to the bicep with a grin. Gods, teasing his wife was fun.

  
  


+x+x+x+

  
  


After dinner, the four women settled into their living room with a more serious topic of discussion. While he could have taken part, he had already done his best with the whole Weiss situation, so he felt comfortable in sitting it out. Besides, he’d been relegated to dish duty again.

Bullshit, in his opinion. Not that any of them asked it. Blake had simply given him a smile, while the other women spat in the face of guest courtesy.

His mother would have been livid. He would know.

No, he wasn’t being petty, how dare you say that.

Nonetheless, they didn’t quite hash anything out to be done about the Atlas situation from what he heard, and by the time he joined them, they’d settled back out for a movie on the TV that he half-watched while he pulled Blake into his lap to give her the most company-over safe cuddling he could.

While the three other women were just a bit vexed, even Yang seemed content to push it out of sight and out of mind as the movie droned on. As an advertisement block hit, Ruby shifted in her chair. “So we’ll have a break next week. What do you two think you’ll be doing?”

Blake turned her gaze unto him, and he let out a sigh- not needing to read her mind to know where this was going. “Kuo Kana, we owe the Belladonnas a visit, I think.”

“Mom will have a fit if we don’t.” Blake remarked, though he was sure she was being melodramatic about it. Kali was one of the nicest women he knew, and that was . . . well- it was a long list.

Kali Belladonna was a perfectly agreeable Mother-In-Law to him. Even if she tended to tease about grand-kittens -way- too much. Even after one was on the way, she’d snuck a few messages to him about how they should make sure to have at -least- three.

Jaune couldn’t publicly approve of that, but he also wasn’t going to bring it up with his wife until -after- the first one came out.

They had to see just what kind of wild powers their children would have, after all. Semblance-wise alone, it would be a mess. And if they had magical powers, too? Including the possibility of them being able to control Grimm?

That child wasn’t even born yet, and they were going to be so protected they’d be lucky to see time in the bathroom alone without one of them nearby.

“Well, I guess I’m stuck here with Weiss-” Ruby started, but was interrupted by Yang.

“Why not bring her with us back to Patch? You wouldn’t mind that, would you, Weiss Cream?”

Weiss blinked, but tapped her finger against her chin. “I think if I had a choice, I’d rather go along with the two lovebirds. At least in Kuo Kana, I’d be seeing something new.”

Jaune blinked. Weiss  _ wanting to come along with them _ ? He looked at Blake, whom shrugged. “You’d have to keep your head low, but since you’re already having to hide away who you are, it wouldn’t be any more different than what you’d be doing here or in Patch.”

Something about this stank. Jaune could sense it in the air, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Would your parents really be okay with having someone along with us?”

Blake leaned back, whispering under her breath, “It’d give us an excuse to be alone a bit more- plus a distraction away from us wandering around.”

Ah. When put like that, Jaune could understand the appeal of a third-wheel. Weiss would get to be the furthest possible away from Atlas, as long as she didn’t go proudly proclaiming abuse of the faunus and the like, she’d probably be relatively ignored in comparison with him and Blake around.

“Sure, then. If you want to be a third wheel, Weiss, I won’t argue.”

Yang and Ruby looked at one another, and shrugged. “Hey, if you want to be the one to wander in while Jaune and Blake are getting frisky, I could use less trauma in my life.” Ruby remarked, which led immediately to Blake blushing, Yang bursting out in laughter, and him smiling indulgently.

Hey, his wife was hot, and they were young. Who could blame him?

  
_ Kuo Kana it is, then. _ “I’ll call Kali and let her know.”


	15. Crown Fifteen, Part 1

**Regency**

**Crown Fifteen**

**Home and Hearth, Pt. 1**

  
  


Kuo Kuana was quite different from what he expected. That Blake had delivered them all directly there via a shadow portal was to be expected since it wasn’t like they and Weiss could simply book a boat or airship, but he had to admit he had always thought it would be more . . . arid? Was that his thought?

It was beautiful, to be sure. Not quite the bustling metropolis of Vale, or the industrialist city-state of Atlas, Jaune found himself liking the scenery. They arrived into the courtyard of the Belladonna family home with their luggage- or more precisely, Weiss’ luggage, since they could each produce clothes purely from thin air.

He wasn’t that bothered, personally. At least this time it was clothes and toiletries instead of entire cases full of dust and maintenance tools for Myrtenaster. Jaune hadn’t been there for the explosion itself back when they first had arrived at Beacon, but he’d gotten a play-by-play later from Ruby about it.

“Huh. So this is Menagerie.” Weiss remarked, looking around the courtyard before turning her gaze back around towards the city in the distance. The white-haired woman was wearing a much more simplistic wardrobe of jeans and a breezy top to match her summer hat that had her hair tucked up into it.

“It is. Not what you expected?” Blake responded, and he let his eyes turn over unto his wife. Gone was the regal gown or the more common semi-formal teacher’s attire, replaced by a summer dress. Part of him remembered how she hadn’t really taken to wearing skirts or dresses until she’d started dating him. Before then, he could only really remember her pajamas being something resembling -not wearing pants-.

Huh. Did that mean she wore the pants in the family? Probably. That was fine by him, really. “It isn’t.” Weiss replied, a light smile on her face. “It’s nice here. Warm. The sun feels great after being cooped up for so long.”

“Yeah.” Jaune agreed, “Perfect weather for a beach vacation.”

Weiss snorted, “I’m never going back to Vacuo again. I’d rather build a whole pool for myself.” That response made both of the “lovebirds” laugh, and Jaune had to cover his mouth to get his own giggles to stop. It was nice to be with a friend again- and not to feel like it was just pressure and business.

“There’s a lake nearby we can go to.” Blake remarked once the air had cleared of laughter- and Weiss’ pout. “For now, though, let’s get inside before they come out and find us. The last time I was here, it got set on fire.”

He paused to stare incredulously- and in his peripheral view, so did Weiss. “I had a fight.” Blake noted demurely, ears pinned back.

+x+x+x+

  
  


As they stepped up the procession of stairs to the front porch of the remodeled Belladonna home, he took note of the guards loitering about the place. A few had seemed to take notice of them- not that it wasn’t hard to do so- but that was part of why he’d made sure to call ahead to her parents. The last thing they needed was a scuffle because they hadn’t been announced.

Fighting was dangerous for Blake, and he . . . well- he tended to go overboard nowadays thanks to not knowing his own strength. Maybe some sparring with Weiss was in order, too, since she’d admitted to being a little rusty? That sounded like a good time to bond and something to do while they were here for the week.

Not that he thought they’d be dry of things to do, of course. It was just better to plan too much and have to discard things than to not prepare enough and do too little.

It was just as they were stepping up to the door that it opened, admitting forth the view of Kali in a more casual Mistralian kimono than her usual clothes. Grinning, the Belladonna matriarch swept in and- without missing a beat- squished her daughter in a hug that seemed far too much for Blake once again. “H-i-m-o-m--”

_ That’s what you get for leaving me at Ruby’s mercy! _ Jaune’s eyes narrowed, even though he knew she’d come right to him next and-  **HUG!** Yep, there it was. At least his spine wasn’t protesting- yet anyway. She wasn’t the strongest woman, not being a huntress, but damn it Kali hugged -hard-.

Unlike with his own mother, he hugged back. “Hello, Kali.” He remarked, good nature in the way he smiled at his mother-in-law as she released him from her hug and then turned her amber gaze unto Weiss.

The former-CEO went to bow, but was swept into a hug just as fast.  _ Petty revenge is so great. _ Jaune noted, watching Weiss’ eyes bug out of their sockets at the extreme display of affection. “Ghhk- hello- nnhk- Mrs. Belladonna . . !”

“Well, hello to you too, Miss Schnee! Welcome to Menagerie. Ghira is in a meeting right now, so you all get to be with me for a little while until he gets away. Are you hungry? It’s about lunch time, so we can take a trip to the kitchen and then the dining room.”

“Food sounds nice, Mom. Will you help her in the kitchen, Jaune?” He nodded in response to Blake. “I’ll help Weiss get settled in and get our things put away in our room, then.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Lead the way, Kali.”

He handed off his single case and then swept along after Kali while the ladies went up a staircase to what he presumed to be the bedrooms. “So, how are you both doing?” Kali asked as they moved through the longer halls of the home and then stepped around into the Belladonna family kitchen.

“So far? Well. Ignoring the mess in Atlas, classes are going well and we haven’t had any issues with the baby. Blake is worried she’ll get fat.” He waited for Kali to begin pulling out the makings of lunch before accepting her direction to begin cutting up vegetables and meat. After washing his hands, he settled into the surprisingly domestic situation of cooking with his mother-in-law.

“She’s always been slim.” Kali agreed, “She’ll probably worry you won’t find her as pretty when it happens.” He laughed, finding the idea just as preposterous as any else might. Kali’s amused smile told him that she must have experienced similar with Ghira.

“She’ll always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me. The fact that we’re having a family-”

He shook his head, continuing, “- it’s just the best. We worried it couldn’t happen.”

Kali smiled as they finished meal prep and they both began to steady themselves out with cooking and letting things simmer. “Interracial couples are a bit rare,” She admitted, “So the only thing that’s really known is that children between them tend to be Faunus just like the Faunus parent.”

He nodded, having known at least that much. He couldn’t read Blake’s mind, and he’d never bothered to ask her because it’d seemed irrelevant, but Jaune had- well- done a bit of research when they’d started to get serious. Kids had always been on his mind when he found  **The One** so the idea of little blonde and black-haired kids with cat-ears had been . . .

Well, precious as hell, to be honest. From what he’d understood of Ozpin and Salem’s story, their children hadn’t been tainted with Salem’s darkness, so perhaps their own would come out “normal”?

It became a little more muted when they were both corrupted with the power of Destruction, for certain. Pausing to lean against the counter as they waited for lunch to finish cooking, he offered Kali an easy grin. “Thanks, Kali. For letting me be with your daughter.”

Kali blinked, tilting her head in confusion- a gesture he recognized inherently in Blake as well, “She picked you, so there wasn’t much of our input to be had, dear.”

He settled back up, arms crossing. “Suuure. You go ahead and say that, and I’ll choose to believe you.”

Kali simply smiled in return, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. “Blake is an independent woman. You’ve been good to her. She’s calmed down quite a lot.”

“I don’t think she has. She just has a lot less to worry about,” He admitted, “With the Fang gone and things . . . kind of in a peaceful nature?” He couldn’t say it was wholly peaceful- after all, they were shielding Weiss from Atlas and the SDC- but it was far more peaceful than it had been since the Fall of Beacon.

“Maybe. Still, she’s always smiling when she’s with you. I liked Mr. Wukong, don’t get me wrong, but it must not have lasted.”

He winced a bit. He hadn’t seen Sun in years, either, but from what he’d understood from Blake, they’d split amicably. He didn’t know if he -trusted- that, since it was purely from Blake’s own perspective, but he had always got the feeling that Sun was the kind of guy that didn’t dwell on things that kept him down. The kind of hard go-getter than went through life with a smile and a hand reaching out for what he wanted and would make him happy.

Jaune might have been jealous of him at one point, but he was sure if the man showed back up, he’d just consider him a good friend. Maybe they’d run into him again some day. Jaune privately hoped they did, if only so they could expand their network of friends again.

“They split off, yeah.” Jaune admitted, figuring that Blake hadn’t told them. “She wanted to join back up with her Team and Sun didn’t want to be an obstacle, so he . . . went somewhere. Not sure where.”

Kali blinked. “None of you know?”

Jaune shrugged, “This is before we really started talking. She said that he said “She was with the ones she belonged with” and that’s all I really ever got. I didn’t do a lot of talking with Sun when we were at Beacon, even though he seemed like a cool guy.”

“Well, I’m sure he’s doing fine. He seemed like a good and resourceful man.” Kali noted, seeming comfortable in that thought, not that he disagreed. “Still, Ghira always was confused how you two got together. It seemed more likely she would end up with Mr. Wukong, or her partner from what she told us.”

Jaune gave a somewhat wry grin, “Just good timing, I guess.” He wouldn’t worry Kali with what was now firmly in the past. The sounds of Blake and Weiss chatting as they settled into the dining room made him take a quick check of where lunch was. It’d be another few minutes, it seemed. “Why don’t you go sit down with the girls, and I’ll finish this up, Kali?”

His mother-in-law nodded, an impish grin on her pretty features. “I think I shall. After all, I have a daughter to tease. Oh, and of course your bedroom is more sound-proofed than the rest of the guest quarters, so make sure to practice more on giving me more grandchildren, won’t you?”

He had to fight down the blush, failing miserably while Kali Belladonna- the evil woman- made her way to deliver friendly hell upon her child and the white-haired woman.  _ This is nice. _ He thought to himself as he stirred a skillet full of vegetables and fish.

As the food was finished, he shifted it all onto plates and brought it out to settle it upon the dining table, noting the tense atmosphere as Blake was too busy blushing bright red while Weiss was staring aghast at Kali, whom wore a grin so damn cheeky he swore it was splitting her face in two. Yep, that was about what he expected, even without using magical clairvoyance.

Just meeting Kali once was usually enough to tell you how the woman worked. All smiles, all about protecting her family, and equally all about making sure her family was doted on to the extent of embarrassed melting.

“Well, there’s the husband.” Kali noted, obviously still teasing Blake, “Putting dinner on the table. You really ought to snatch this one up, Blake.”

Despite himself, he laughed. The look of betrayal on Blake’s face only made his snickers turn into a full on guffaw. “Kali, really.” Ghira’s voice as he joined them only made Jaune more amused.

As they tucked into dinner, Jaune remembered his earlier thought, settling his eyes on Weiss. “Weiss, later, let’s use the yard to spar a bit. How about it? Let’s knock some rust off of Myrtenaster.”

Weiss blinked, already getting ready to indulge, but nodded. “Very well. That sounds like a good time.”

Blake raised a brow at him, but he simply shrugged with a smile.


	16. Omake 1 [Her Royal Highness, Luna Belladonna-Arc]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An omake detailing Blake and Jaune's daughter, Luna, and her life . . . and her perspective of the end of the world.

**Regency**

**Omake One**

**Her Royal Highness, Luna Belladonna-Arc, First of Her Name**

  
  


She was the perfect example, gifted with great physical abilities, a powerful Semblance, and the ability to summon and control Grimm. She was the Princess of all of the Grimmlands, ruled over by her parents.

She was . . . in desperate need of a nap.

As she held unto the hand of her Aunt Ruby, she watched as small Beowulf pups scrambled this way and that under the chaos of her own whim, arranging pillows and covers for her as that thought filled her head beyond control.

She was Luna Belladonna-Arc, and she was the frightening future of the world, wrapped up in a tiny and adorable nine-year old package, garbed in the very shadows of the world formed into a gown as deserving of her regal visage. The red ruffles and accents on the black of the preternatural material matching with the Huntress’ own color scheme.

“Uh.” Ruby Rose, today’s unprepared babysitter, began to remark, “That’s- new. Really new. Like, novel, even.”

“Yes,” Luna noted, trying to sound as “Princess-like” as possible, but displeased with the way her word came out with a yawn, “Aunt Ruuuubeee should fear me. I am the future Queen!”

“You’re precious, is what you are, Luna.” She was not precious! She was death! She was despair and darkness!

. . . She was falling asleep standing up.

_ Whumpf. _

+x+x+x+

Cat-like ears flicked and perked this way and that as she sat patiently, watching as her Aunt Weiss went over details of proper hegemony and the relevance of proper business doctrine to the ruling of a Queendom- and Luna had insisted that it would be a “Queendom” not a “Kingdom”!

Luna was bored. Aunt Weiss spoiled her thoroughly with toys, trips to amazing places, and lavished attention on her when she was with her- but Aunt Weiss also talked about some of the most boring things when she got into this “instructor” mood of hers.

Luna was nine! She would be a teen soon! The world was her oyster, and the pearl within all the treasures that ought to belong to her! How could she sit still when so much promise was held only far enough away from her for her to reach out and  **take** it?

“Luna, dear, are you paying attention?”   
  
“Yes, Auntie Weiss.” She said, her back straight and her deeply blue eyes staring blankly at her favorite Aunt.

“Oooh- you’re so adorable.” And just like lightning, the snow-haired woman had bundled her up in her arms, and Luna felt her silver Aura flare up in protest to the tight hug that buried her blonde curls against the Schnee woman’s bust.

She was -not- adorable. She was the Princess of the Grimm! Beowulves obeyed her, Goliaths crushed what displeased her, Noire let her ride him into battle!

Luna Belladonna-Arc put up with her Aunt’s hug in favor of the sweet pastries she knew would come inevitably after the lessons.

+x+x+x+

  
  


Auntie Yang always got in trouble when she watched after her, but Luna privately enjoyed getting to ride on the back of Bumblebee through the streets of Vale. Giggling happily, the little Princess held tight to her blonde Aunt’s waist as they ducked and dodged between cars of the meagre on their way to such outlandish things as “work”.

People needed to have their purposes in the world, not everyone could be born into luxury like she was, after all. She would be a kind and benevolent Queen to the people who made sure her empire ran smoothly.

Auntie Yang had joked about how her parents had taken time alone “to give her a baby brother or sister”, and that had made Luna’s thoughts drift.

Someone to share the throne with? No. Such a ridiculous thought. Someone she could lord her beauty, intellect, and strength over?

It was only her right. She was Luna Belladonna-Arc. Even at the tender age of nine, she could use her Semblance to generate superheated rays of plasma that would chew through the Aura of trained huntsmen.

If her parents wished to bring another Prince or Princess into this world, she would gleefully- and graciously- assure them of their place in the world. That she was the Queen to be, and that it was by her affection that no one would ever lay even a follicle of discarded skin upon them without her permission.

She was a good and gracious Princess like that.

As they stopped at a small ice cream store, Luna’s eyes shone with an eerie red light as she gleefully thought of the coming wave of sugar and pleasure to be had from the embrace of chocolate deliciousness.

+x+x+x+

Aunt Nora and Uncle Ren’s place was always the most fun. Their children meant she had playmates who could only marvel at her power, as was her right, including her older cousin Lian. Lian was a pretty girl, just like herself, and Luna was all too pleased to lord the attention that she and her cousin earned from the plebeian masses who watched them play in Mistral’s park.

It was the first time she learned what it meant to find affection in another, under the cage of the jungle gym that she had scaled and laid claim to by her divine right of birth. She had pronounced Lian as the first of her Knights, and had bestowed upon the black-haired and teal-eyed girl a kiss upon the cheek.

Luna liked to kiss Lian’s cheeks. The soft, tender flesh that had been untested always gave way to her lips, and her older cousin would always blush the cutest shade of pink, like a flower drifting softly down one of Remnant’s many rivers.

Luna wanted nothing more in the world than to enjoy those moments, playing with her cousins and feeling -normal-.

If she’d learned anything from her parents, it was that normalcy was to be respected for the calm it imbued in spirits like raging tempests of darker emotions. Hunger to dominate, destroy, and taint could only be held at bay by love and care.

Luna loved her family, very dearly. And she could only feel a little bit sad when her parents would look at each other and be sad, as if radiating the sweetly bitter emotion to her own senses.

She was not yet old enough to appreciate how those moments would fade away with time, but she was young enough to understand that holding hands with Lian felt right.

Even when Aunt Nora got a very silly look on her face, and Uncle Ren only smiled indulgently.

+x+x+x+x+

The world stopped making sense the day her Aunt Saphron died. She had been twelve, and the world had become a little more gray in color. Her father’s grief was boundless, and her mother had simply held her tight as the castle flooded with new and more powerful Grimm.

Why, if she was blessed with such power and such beauty, did the world see fit to take her family from her? It wasn’t even a glorious, storybook death. Her cousin Adrian had simply been in tears, inconsolable, as he and his mother Terra had recounted how Saphron died of an illness that could not be cured.

It was an illness that was caused by the body itself. Her Aunt’s lovely body trying to protect itself from enemies that did not exist, choking the life from her until she shrivelled away. Her mother had called it “Cancer”, and Luna learned what hate was that day.

Luna hated Cancer, and wished it would face her in combat.

Luna knew she could win- Luna was the strongest person in the world after her father and mother.

As her mother held her tightly, she wished she could make the world  **make sense ** again.

+x+x+x+

  
  


The next of her Aunts to fade away- not to die, as Luna refused to believe that any of them would simply cease to exist- was Aunt Ruby. It was a terrible day, and even Luna couldn’t see the brightness in it. So many people had come to her Aunt Ruby’s funeral, including herself and her mother.

Aunt Ruby looked so peaceful there, in her coffin and awash in roses of black and red that would have made her so happy.

Luna was fifteen. Almost old enough to take the entry exams for one of the Huntsman Academies, though her parents had assured her that she was beyond good enough.

But yet she was not good enough to protect her beloved Aunt Ruby from the people who had finally taken the spark of life from her. Her father hadn’t been able to rise from his throne to come, so her mother had directly brought them both to the service.

Luna was young, but she knew what love was. Only Lian’s hand in her own had made the tears stop coming from her eyes, and the embrace of her Aunt Yang, Weiss, and her mother had allowed her to step away from the casket before it could be put within the ground, so her Aunt Ruby’s spirit could once again be free to find a new body to be born in.

Luna knew her father had loved Aunt Ruby deeply. And that was why, when her mother and father embraced when they came back to the castle, Luna wished that Aunt Ruby could have been her mother as well.

That thought would have made Aunt Ruby happy, she was sure. It was the only thought that allowed Luna to sleep that night.

The world, once so bright and colorful, began to turn black. And she knew it wasn’t just her own world that looked so bleak and hopeless- but her father’s and mother’s as well.

+x+x+x+

By the time she was eighteen- a full grown adult- Luna could not see color in the world anymore. Only the shadows and the bleakness that had come as a result of a misery long since abated by her parents.

Lian had been killed, the beautiful black flower that she had loved since youth died due to an upsurge of hostilities between the nations of Mistral and Atlas. Lian had enrolled in Haven, and had been one of it’s premiere Huntresses- ready and willing to bring back the peace her father and mother had sacrificed everything for.

That war took everything from Luna, as far as she was concerned. The fragile string that kept her weighted upon Remnant’s soil. Not even her mother could console her, and her father’s understanding stare had only left her feeling . . .

Empty.

There was no intense burst of negative emotion she’d been coached through by her parents, no glee and joy. Only the unfathomable void of a world without the woman she loved.

Luna learned what heartache was. And she knew, as her father’s hands gathered the Seers to him, that the world would soon be awash in darkness just like she herself was.

Even the girl with the ability to summon the most powerful of Lights at will could only be entrenched deep in the shadows. Luna created her first Grimm that day, and- instead of the little Beowulf pups, or the Sphinx kittens of her youth-

-it was a great monstrosity that she regretted making, but named the “Lotus”, to keep the memory of the girl she loved alive.

+x+x+x

As she stood upon the ruins of the world, Luna Belladonna-Arc felt something for the first time since Lian had died when she was but a mere eighteen. Regret- soul-crushing loneliness filled her soul as she looked into the reflective surface of a blade polished to a mirror sheen.

No longer was her hair golden blonde, her eyes that vivid blue, both taken from her handsome father and the prominent cat-ears that showed she was Blake Belladonna’s lovely child.

Now, she was a beast of white and red awash in black. Just like the figures who stood with her as a great ball of light and darkness formed up above before shifting into two humanoid figures.

Her glowing red gaze turned to her parents, the stoic and agonized stare of her father, and the distant, pain-drowned face of her mother. The memories of her beloved Aunts, the sweet bitterness of Lian’s smiles filled her for a moment as she remembered how time and people had taken them all from her.

From her family, which had only ever tried to give.

For decades, Luna Belladonna-Arc had not shed a tear. But when the Gods finally spoke their dire condemnation, she could only fall to her knees and weep.

They’d won. But it was not a victory any would celebrate. Grimm walked the world, and darkness engulfed all of Remnant unequivocally.

There was no Aunt Weiss, boring her with lectures and delighting her with sweets and delightful hugs and kisses. There was no Aunt Yang, smiling naughtily while her father chided her for taking a young Luna out on her motorcycle.

No Ruby Rose, smiling at her father from a distance with a look that said that, if things had been different, she would have had another mother in the dark-haired woman.

No Aunt Nora or Ren, always so wise and adoring, pushing their strong daughter and her own young self to express themselves and know that- if Luna and Lian had wished it, they would be allowed to marry and love.

No Lian to love, to marry and start a life together, as her parents had.

Only she, and her parents- awash in the pain of the Grimm’s victory over the world.

And so, Luna Belladonna-Arc wailed like a child, hurt for the first time.

All until a sea of white filled her vision.


	17. Crown Fifteen, Part 2

**Regency**

**Crown Fifteen, Part Two**

**Home and Hearth**

Jaune took in the sight of the heiress standing across from him in the courtyard of the Belladonna family home, rolling his neck to a satisfying pop that told him he’d not had a good amount of exercise in awhile.

Weiss, rusty or not, was still one of the world’s premiere huntresses. He found himself looking forward to this, even though he knew he should have kept his head level rather than embracing the usual hunger for negative emotions that had come with his new nature.

The fact that his Semblance hadn’t been similarly corrupted was nice- though he was wary of using it nowadays considering how he wasn’t sure how it might affect those he used it on. If nothing else, he could give Weiss a bit of a boost and see if something went awry.

As he shifted the bone-crafted blade from his left hand to his dominant right, he took a deep breath and let himself relish in the smile that grew on his lips. Weiss had taken her stance, and he brought the heavy blade upwards into a casual En Garde. Was he a fencer to be Weiss’ equal? By no means, but could he have a little fun before anything serious happened?

Certainly.

Nearby, Blake sat on the steps of the Belladonna home, with Kali next to her minding the Grimm Queen’s perked ears. “This will be interesting. I’ve never seen Huntsmen fight one another before!” His mother-in-law noted, and he hoped they’d make a good showing for her, if nothing else.

“Honey?” He remarked, and Blake nodded her head, raising a dainty hand wreathed in veins filled with the power of Destruction.

“Begin.” She noted, chopping the air. And Weiss was off, summoning glyphs which fired streaks of dust-infused light towards him which he deflected with the blunt side of his blade. An aura-enhanced step pushed him into hurtling towards the white-haired woman, Weiss raising Myrtenaster to ready a riposte for the coming swing.

His free hand came forward and crashed into her instead, knocking the snow-haired woman back before he fisted his fingers in her top and pulled her back inwards, her rapier blade forcing him to give up on the grapple. Back in neutral positioning, he used the pivot of his hip to bring the bone-blade inwards to force her to guard or retreat, and Weiss- wisely- chose to skip back and bring her rapier up to ready another deflection.

Rather than overpower her again, he planted his free hand onto the weapon’s hilt and brought it up and forward, intending on crushing her guard with pure force- the thing Weiss couldn’t deal with coming from him. Once again, she darted to the side rather than engaging him.

His smile relaxed, and as she stabbed at him, he brought the heavy blade around and up, knocking her stab awry and then shifting his grip on the created weapon in favor of bringing the balled pommel forward to strike at his friend’s stomach- this time she guarded with her own arms and knocked the attack just askew, the soft  **click** of the Dust cylinder being prepped alerted him to her next action.

Rather than let it scare him, he flared his Aura and accepted the wash of heat and flames over the light of his soul while his fist cocked and hurtled forwards again, knocking Weiss back a step before he pivoted again and brought his heavy blade around in order to force Weiss once again to guard or retreat.

This time, he must have panicked her, because she braced Myrtenaster and held the weapon- easily the size of Crocea Mors’ greatsword form- at bay while steel and Grimm-bone screeched at one another. It was taking all Weiss had- he could see it on her face- to keep him from following through.

This was exhilarating. Fun, even. He opened up the angle of his slain momentum and crushed the earth beneath with the point of the blade and brought his back foot forward to lash out at Weiss’ leg, which made her give up the block and retreat again.

A huff came from the Heiress as they once again resumed neutral positions, “How unbearably barbaric of you, Jaune.”

He could only smile in return. Another  **click** alerted him to the readying of another dust vial in Myrtenaster’s hilt, and he surmised the attack before it would come. Ice, he was sure. Weiss would try and mitigate his advantage in strength by roping him into having less mobility and less angle of attack.

She was a smart woman, it had been one of the many reasons he had been so in love with her so long ago.

He watched as great spikes of tundra cold generated and separated, spears of ice sent hurtling towards him while he slid inwards and watched them pass over his head. The momentum of his movement allowing him to use the force of his raising up towards his feet again to propel the point of his blade forward and up, an attack that would have planted in her breast and then forced her up into the air if it’d landed.

But it didn’t- and he’d known it wouldn’t. Weiss danced to the side of his blade and brought Myrtenaster up, readying to stab at him even while his gauntlet-clad hand came around to grasp for the blade as she thrust-

-instead of catching the blade like he’d meant, it knocked the stab off-course and he could only adjust the angle of his wrist against his weapon before bringing it around in a side-swipe. Weiss brought Myrtenaster inwards again and was knocked a few feet back from the sudden block she’d had to do. He was sure if he’d had the ability to read her Aura like in sparring classes, that would have shaved off a good ten percent of her’s.

Her arms were probably aching, too, if he saw the way her hands shook as she brought her guard up once again. Another  **click** was only the announcement before he drew back and readied his blade for a more forceful stab, knowing that she’d revert back-

-lightning sparked along Myrtenaster’s blade, and he had to admit that was a new one. He’d expected more flames, but as his blade careened against Myrtenaster’s, he had to appreciate the sudden numbness that he felt in his right arm before his aura pushed away the damage and he could redirect and raise his leg to kick at the snow-haired heiress again.

Without a chance to prepare for it, Weiss was caught in the stomach and knocked back a few feet and unto her back, grunting and groaning while he put his free hand back unto the pommel of his weapon and raised it up for a killing stroke-

Just in time for the Heiress to hold up a hand, noting breathlessly, “I- I’m really out of practice.”

Acknowledging her request, he lowered his blade and let it dissipate back into the shadows it had come from. Stepping inwards, he offered the white-haired woman a hand, which she took after a few more heavy breaths. “That’s what this is for.” Jaune noted, and only enjoyed the way the heiress huffed and pouted.

It was nice to see her back to the Weiss he remembered before everything had gone so wrong.

+x+x+x+

After a few more rounds, Weiss went to enjoy a hot shower while Blake and Kali tended to dinner that night. Left to wander while he waited for his own turn at self-cleansing, he found himself approached by Ghira Belladonna.

An entertaining prospect all on its own. Jaune always felt that the man was far more imposing in appearance than he truly was, but that was perhaps just his own bias showing. Ghira Belladonna was a laudable husband and father, as far as he was concerned.

One couldn’t pick a more customary father-in-law, if Jaune was honest.

Nonetheless, rather than argue against it, he’d followed the larger faunus around the side of the house to what must have been a sitting area of some kind. As Ghira settled into a chair, he joined him on the impromptu porch, kicking one leg up over the other.

For awhile, silence reigned, and Jaune didn’t find it at all uncomfortable. Eventually, however, Ghira’s voice came free from his burly chest. “I must admit it’s strange, to sit here with a human. One married to my daughter.”

“Is it a bad thing?” The former blonde noted, his gaze turning towards his father-in-law with a curious stare.

“It isn’t.” Ghira assured him, and he nodded in turn. “I just didn’t see Blake . . . ending up with anyone else, if I’m honest.”

Jaune could agree to that thought as well. Yang and Blake had always seemed more close than friends would normally be, but- to be fair- that had been part of what had led to the two blondes clashing more than anything.

Jaune didn’t think he could be blamed for it, but- well- he also could see how Yang had always held a bit of a grudge, even if she’d been lightening up lately. To the point even Jaune was aware of how the wash of Destruction within him was coloring his thoughts bleaker than he ought to have felt about it all.

Perhaps he’d been silly, being so wary of the blonde woman. Or maybe it was sensible, and it was only now that the team had gotten back together that Yang had lost some of that edge that had put them so at odds?

Hard to say, Jaune saw the interplay, but didn’t know how the dynamics had switched. Ruby was as friendly and in-your-face as ever, so . . .

He could only make guesses.

“I’m glad.” He would be honest. “Blake has made me the happiest man on Remnant.”

He heard his father in law snort, and he let the silence reign again in its comfort. After a few more minutes of sitting, he stood and went to make his way to enjoy a shower, only pausing when the man’s voice stopped him again.

“I think you make her happy, too.”

Jaune surely hoped so. For as long as their happiness could last, he would never stop. She’d sacrificed everything for him, and that meant the world to the King of the Grimm.

+x+x+x+

  
  


The shower was a pleasant one, and dinner afterwards had been exceptional. Menagerie’s cuisine was similar to Mistral’s- or perhaps that was Kali’s own doing? Hard to say. He knew he was starving when he inhaled the meal- and Blake did similarly. His mother-in-law making small talk while his wife and Weiss returned the conversation. Ghira was similarly soft-spoken throughout, and he admitted he spent more time with his face in his meal than anything else.

He hadn’t had a work-out like sparring with Weiss in awhile. Even hunting down the assassins sent after her had been . . .

More like play, if anything else. Of course, he hadn’t used the full wash of his ability against Weiss, but handicapping oneself was also part of training. He’d used nothing but his own physical strength and his Aura to engage her as opposed to using the powers inherent in him since his taking of Ozpin and Salem’s magical abilities- or the ability to summon Grimm.

Even though the thought of letting Noir run wild and free tended to make him smile with amusement. The Sphinx would make an amusing battle-companion, he was sure.

Days muddled together, spent indulging in a lackadaisy lifestyle with his wife, friend, and his wife’s family. Nights spent cuddled together, musing on baby names and testing just how soundproofed the room was (the answer was suitably, since no one had made note of just how loud Blake could get when he did the right things), the week flew by before he could really put his feet down.

They’d be back at Beacon before he knew it, and he wondered how the days of classes and shenanigans enforced by Team RWBY would remain in his memories. Part of him hoped that they would be happy memories that could keep the inner turmoil at bay for years to come-

-but sadly, Jaune had the feeling that it wouldn’t last. He wasn’t even trying to be morose when he had that thought, but he would have been forced to admit it was a dark spot in his vision.

Every step made was always closer to that oblivion that would one day arrive if he and Blake never figured out how to make the world see one another as one.

Jaune hated that thought- and hated how easily it pervaded his being. Only the sight of Blake rubbing her stomach, and the thoughts of his friends kept it at bay.

Jaune knew he was broken, and that he couldn’t be fixed- but he could hope that it wouldn’t end as badly as he dreamed it would.

Standing atop a world awash in darkness, with only the horror of what had been done to comfort him. He wondered, every year at Pyrrha’s statue, if he’d done what was right-

-or if it would have been better if they’d all died there in the Grimmlands, heroes at least for a day.


	18. Crown Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake noticed it before . . . but why does it bother her so -now-?

**AN:** I got introduced to Cain’s Offering via JasonParadise on Youtube, so if you’re looking for some melodic metal, go listen to “I’ll Build You A Rome” or “A Night to Forget” this chapter.

**Regency**

**Crown Sixteen**

**The Rose; Clad in Shadows**

  
  
  


The return to Beacon was a swift- if pleasant- one. Time spent with her parents was always a comfort to Blake, and privately she enjoyed the fact that they got along with Jaune. Memories of Sun and her father’s reaction to the man had colored her thoughts about when they’d first met her husband- and she’d been terrible about not telling them before the whole mess was already over.

Even if she’d had time, how could she explain?  _ Hey, Mom, Dad- my boyfriend is gonna throw himself into liquid evil so we all don’t die, and I kind of have feelings for him so I’m not going to let him do it alone _ ?

Yeah, hindsight was twenty-twenty, for sure.

Regardless, Blake found herself awaking to the knowledge that she’d not been paying attention to her own body. Slipping from their bed and into the bathroom had seen her looking with surprise at the swelling of her abdomen. Despite the moment of panic set in by her Grimm nature, she calmed down after a few moments to collect herself.  _ I just haven’t been paying attention. I didn’t just… Yeah. _

One of the downsides of becoming an immortal Grimm-creature was a steadily declining sense of self-awareness, it had been at least partially to blame for her failure to recognize the morning sickness for what it was. Well, that and her sure thoughts that they’d been anything but safe in their sex life and how they ought to have succeeded before now.  _ Does it have something to do with being out of the Grimmlands? Or . . . maybe it’s- _

The thought gave her pause as she stared into the mirror.  _ What if I couldn’t get pregnant because of how miserable we were? Grimm feed on negativity, so what if . . . I’ve -eaten- all of the potential children? _

It was a morbid thought, though she admitted it was probably partially the roiling of the power of Destruction in her which made it possible to have such a convoluted and disturbing tickle of fancy.

But then why did it make so much sense? She only finds herself pregnant upon leaving Evernight, and reconnecting with her friends? Blake was fully aware of her uncontrollable attraction to conspiracies, but there was no other case to compare it to other than Salem and Ozma’s.

And Salem had children just fine-  _ outside _ of the Lands of Darkness. As her gaze broke from the stare at her own stomach when she felt arms wrap around her naked body, her head turned over her shoulder into a kiss.

Ah. Jaune was awake- and she . . .  _ was in the mood? _

Well, that was much different from morning sickness. Best to make good on that, then.

“Brush your teeth, then get back in bed.” Her growl-like tone earned a pleased look from her husband, and she dutifully joined him in cleanliness-

-and then nastiness.

“Guys, if you don’t hurry up you’re going to miss your first class- OH MY GODS YOU TWO ARE INSATIABLE--!”

Despite Ruby’s attempt at an interruption- which  _ actually annoyed  _ her today- Jaune arrived just in time for classes. Magical portals were awesome that way.

x+x+x+x+x

As she luxuriated in a pleasant feeling of a day started with a  _ Yang _ as the blonde woman would have put it, she slid along the halls, noting that save for a few students making their way towards their own first class of the morning, Beacon was strangely empty. She ran into Professor Mulberry, one of the professors who had actually been able to make a return to the school after the years. After a few moments of easy conversation- him congratulating her on her pregnancy and asking how their trip to Kuo Kuana over the semester break had went- she continued onwards towards their classroom, arriving just in time to spy Jaune’s excuse of a first-day-back class.

Weiss stood imperiously at the front, looking more than a little amusing in her “civilian” disguise, grandiosely talking about her experiences with fighting Grimm in a way that would have made Peter Port proud if she were a bit more extravagant in lauding her own achievements as opposed to actively -trying- to offer good advice. Rather than disrupt the proceedings, she simply slid into her husband’s lap and let his arms link around her growing middle.

“Sabyrs are more native to the cold climates, and you can compare them to Beowulves, though Sabyrs are even more aggressive and swift than your average Beowulf. For those of you native to Atlas or the areas nearby, this isn’t the first time you’ve heard of them or seen them, but-”

Weiss would make a fine teacher as well, it seemed. As time passed and class began to wind down, her eyes were drawn to the door opening and Ruby slipping inside shortly before the ring for lunch would arrive. The red-themed Huntress looking at the two of them with eyes that spoke of a momentary  _ hurt _ before they evened out into a display of easy affection.

The blackness that coarsed in her encouraged the thought as it came.  _ You shouldn’t have waited, then. _

The guilt of that thought ate her stomach up, but  _ Jaune was  _ ** _her’s_ ** _ , damn it. _ Her knuckles hurt as Jaune offered Ruby a pleasant smile, which only lit the dark-haired scythe-wielder’s face up all the more.

She’d never been blind to Ruby’s affection for her husband, but she’d always thought the girl would have made a move. And then she and Jaune had started to connect and Blake was not so shy and unsure as to not make a move.

Better to love and lose, than to have never loved at all. The fact that she’d chosen him to be hers forevermore was just the most ecstatic of all endings that could have happened between she and her once-blonde King.

+x+x+x+

Strangely, the rest of the day only seemed to aggravate her emotions all the more. It was nothing different from usual, Ruby trying to keep close to her friends and the man she loved, but now it seemed to stand out so much more to Blake. The small talk and easy pace Jaune and Ruby shared over lunch making it a struggle to keep her impulses in check.

Her hands had turned into claws before lunch had finished, even as she’d sat stewing in jealousy that had never bitten her before and held on so long.

_ It’s the hormones. _ She comforted herself, staring at her own reflection in a window as her husband taught classes, seeing the way the veins of Destruction across her skin pulsed and her eyes glowed. A hand wreathed in bone-like claws pressing into the fragile material as she tried- and failed- to push away the roiling of her heart.

Weiss didn’t inspire such a threatening guise from her, but Ruby? Ruby still held onto the flame like it might gutter and die without her intentions to warm it. Did she think their marriage would fall apart and she’d sweep in and become the new happiness for Jaune should Blake change her mind?

_ Stupid. _ There was no backing out of this  **permanent** arrangement, she’d made sure of that when she’d stepped into the Pools of Destruction and become Queen of the Grimm. Ruby wouldn’t have been able to do it, she knew it.

It would have meant the end of her dream, of her aspirations to be a hero. She couldn’t  _ understand the suffering and sacrifice the two of them had shouldered--! _

She barely realized that she was about to break the glass pane with her emotions running so high, but she stopped herself and let her arm rest at her side as she let her ears focus back into her husband’s light return to the material they’d covered just before the break- a refresher course before classes would begin in earnest once again tomorrow.

For all that classes with “practical merit” as Jaune liked to call them could count as needing a refresher course. She was amazed he hadn’t asked Glynda Goodwitch to simply sic the entirety of his classes into the Emerald Forest to clear the Grimm infestations that still lingered there while calling it “a field trip.”

If nothing else, she contented herself with the fact that all of their students were paying careful attention, likely preferring it to being forced into single combat with yet another stronger breed of the Grimm her husband would gleefully summon into the cage to hide their abilities- and yet still empty some of the Destructive magic inside of them without outright having to return to Evernight to do so.

Yes, they were good teachers, she liked to think.

+x+x+x+

As they settled into another “family dinner”, sans Yang since the blonde had taken a mission fresh off of the sisters’ little vacation, Blake enjoyed her husband’s cooking while Weiss perused news from Atlas on her Scroll and Ruby engaged her and Jaune in conversation.

_ We don’t need you. _ Blake’s thoughts were just as dark as they’d been all day. And, for some reason, the Faunus just couldn’t get the direction to change. Even as she knew that she -did indeed- love Ruby like a sister and would be . . .

… inconsolable . . . if she weren’t a part of their lives. Not quite to the degree Jaune might have, but Blake was used to trying to mute her emotions and control herself- Jaune was not.

Even now, the King of the Grimm wore his feelings on his sleeve. That made her happy when it was directed at her- and it often was- but right then when he was smiling at Ruby, it only made her gut roil more.

It was only the thought that it was her Grimm nature that was making her react so adversely keeping her from lashing out. Between her animal instincts wanting to treat Ruby as a threat to her position with her mate, her own emotions also being amplified, and the hormones of her pregnancy, Blake knew innately that all of her thoughts were toxic and- thus- poisoning her.

But no matter how she tried. Seeing Ruby look at Jaune like she would love him until she died, regardless of his marriage, made her want to kill something.

When the other girls left and she dragged Jaune into bed, growling and hissing with a bestial  _ need _ to showcase her dominance and allure, she wished she could control herself better. Why was it that she was the unstable one now? Perhaps because Jaune had been combatting the self-destructive urges for longer, so he had the experience necessary to keep himself aware of when his mind was trying to hurt him?

  
She wished she could have that confidence. No matter how he looked at her with love and devotion, it  _ didn’t feel like enough. _


	19. Crown Seventeen

**Regency**

**Crown Seventeen**

**The Beast, A Dance, The Moon**

  
  


Blake shifted the preternatural shadows around on her body, changing the style of dress and length of it over and over. Before, she would have went for something more slim and easy to move in, but . . .

Her hand ghosted along the impressive bulge of her abdomen, softly rubbing the flesh beneath. “Little one, not even born yet, and already making my life difficult.” She noted, not an ounce of heat in her voice. A soft little nudge against her stomach drew a soft little grunt from her, “You’re too active. You’ll be a wild one, won’t you, little moonbeam?” Her gaze moved up from her pregnant stomach and settled for a more traditional Mistralian-style  _ cheongsam _ dress. Thankfully, the matter of her clothes being form-fitted at least meant that she wouldn’t look -too- out of place as she was.

She raised a hand, and from the roiling power of her magical energy, formed a set of onyx hairpins, winding her hair up into a small bun and pinning it with the three pins. Nodding in satisfaction, she began to drift her way out of their room and towards the ballroom. Jaune had already been there, being one of the chaperones for the night, so she’d taken a little extra time to beautify herself- and fuss over her appearance.

Though admittedly, she’d used most of the time unwisely. She’d never been the most fashion-conscious of their friend-group, so of course she would take longer to decide how to look than they might. In the intervening months since the semester break, things had settled out a bit. The situation with Weiss and the SDC had petered out- not quite satisfactorily, but it had- with the white-haired Heiress being able to return to Atlas to play politics enough to at least get out from being accused of treason, though by that point keeping the SDC in her name had been an impossibility.

Instead, she’d cashed out of the business. Wholly. Vindictive? Maybe. Blake was  **proud** of her friend for pulling the rug from the whole thing. And, with the capital she’d accrued- something to the effect of literally half of the SDC’s net worth, from what Blake had understood- she returned to Vale and Beacon.

From what Blake had gleaned through Jaune and the former CEO herself, Weiss was already drawing up plans for a series of schools and perhaps even a Combat School of her own. She had heard a few names bandied about already, though even Yang had joined in on nixing the “Schnee Academy” idea.

Weiss’ pout had been amusing, to say the least. As she slipped from the corridor and into the ballroom itself, her arm came up under her protruding stomach as the soft dance music was mitigated by the students slow-dancing together. Really? She’d already missed the first slow dance? Jaune would chide her.

The student overseeing the arrivals offered her a smile, and her eyebrows perked. Black hair and red eyes greeted her. “Miss Kin. Did you get volunteered for something -again-?”

Kuroe Kin let loose a small sigh, though she did look quite nice in her  _ kimono _ -style dress. “Yeah… my team got volunteered to be the party arrangers. Because I’m bad with money, I got saddled with greeting everyone.”

Blake’s brow rose further, but she decided it was probably better she didn’t ask. “Have you seen my husband?” Her own red eyes shuttled about, figuring he’d be easier to spot- being a tall man with wild white hair and a prodigious physique.

“I think I saw him a minute ago leading a dance from the center.”  _ Of course, Jaune can’t be here and not show off. _ The thought brought an amused curl to her lips. “Um- the refreshments are over by the barrister this year, so he’s probably over there, since I can’t see him.”

Blake nodded, that thought making sense. “Enjoy the night as much as you can, Miss Kin.” As the girl offered a “You too, Mrs. Arc!” she began to slide around the perimeter of the dance floor towards the staircase that led up unto the balcony. It seemed Miss Kin’s guess had been appropriate, since Jaune was leaned up near the table with a cup of punch in hand, his gaze meeting her’s as he swept it off of the mass of teens badly slow-dancing on the floor. Nearby, Ruby looked more comfortable in “lady stilts” than she had back when they were at this very same dance, while she popped finger foods into her mouth.

Jaune offered a smile as she closed in against him, admiring the way his dress suit brought out the white in his skin and hair by nature of its inky black and the rich blood red that muted it all. Her gaze moved from Jaune towards Ruby as she leaned in, wrapping her arms around her husband’s ribs as he pulled his free arm around her in turn.

Ruby’s dress was a bit more simplistic this time. Just a nice, well-cut red that was muted with a black shawl that she kept folded around her shoulders and upper-arms. It was perfect for her- not too complicated and not too stylish, reminding of her youthful appeal. After all, the most major thing that had changed about Ruby since their days in Atlas was that her hair had grown out long again. Blake was the only one who’d chosen to keep her hair short, it seemed.

“No issues to report so far.” Jaune noted, a hint of playfulness in his voice as she separated from her husband and let her gaze settle on his face again. “Not even any spiked punch.”

Had the punch been spiked when they were at the dance? She didn’t remember it happening. Granted, that night had been anything but memorable, for as much as she’d have liked to say it was something that stood out. She’d danced with Sun, and yet for the life of her she couldn’t actually relax as much as she’d promised Yang she would. She’d slept- which was a huge improvement- but... 

It was a chapter of her life that was in the past. Better not to be thought about.

“I missed the first slow dance.” She remarked, expecting her husband to give her a pout, but watching as he simply shook his head.

“The dance is for the kids. Just having you here is enough for me.” Despite herself, she flushed and went right back in to hug him again. The feeling of her pregnant stomach pressed tight to him uncomfortable, but at the same time, feeling like it was all that could be done.

Their little family, which would soon be much more active. Luna would arrive in the next month, after all.

“You’re such lovebirds.” Ruby’s teasing voice came through, and she turned her head against Jaune’s chest to give her a wry look-

-until she saw the way Ruby’s smile looked so soft and uncertain. With most of her mood swings away, Blake could only nod her head in her former leader’s direction. Yes. They were in love. And Ruby loved her husband as well. Once upon a time, Weiss had, too- but Weiss had dealt with the heartache and moved on. Ruby was awash in wanting to keep being friends even though there was romantic tension.

Was it healthy? Probably not. But Blake couldn’t blame her. In a way, it was just what she expected. Romance was never easy- even in the books she so loved that glorified and sexualized it.

As they settled into the night, sharing dances and idle jokes about the new generation, she found herself wondering what it would be like for their daughter- little Luna. Would she be a Huntsman like her parents? She would have so much family to adore and love her, so Blake could only imagine she could be whatever it was she pleased.

Their little Princess. As they tucked into a light waltz together, she rested her head against her husband’s chest, and took in a deep breath of his scent. Jaune’s lips pressed to her head, and his breath tickled her feline ears.

This was more of a memory she wanted to treasure.

  
  


x+x+x+x+

It was in the middle of one of their classes when it happened, dramatically enough. One moment, she’d been fine and the next she’d felt a stinging in her abdomen followed by what she would have otherwise feared to be loss of her bladder. Instead, however, she’d nearly collapsed as her first contraction hit shortly afterwards. She’d barely gasped out his name before Jaune had bundled her into his arms and rushed her towards the school’s medical wing.

Normally it would have been just as sensible to teleport- but both had panicked. Not only was it their first child, it was a new piece of history waiting to happen. The child of two Grimm-ified people, and a faunus and a human at that. Nonetheless, as her labor had started, Blake only could remember having so little control of her body that she felt like the process had done -itself- more than she’d consciously had to do. Which was a good thing, because she had been caught between agony and discomfort the whole time.

To say that she had demonstrated a regal face would not have been appropriate. She had seen the video Ruby had recorded, and still flushed when she’d essentially cursed so much at her husband it was a miracle she hadn’t somehow magically exploded him.

Despite what she’d heard about pregnancy, both from her mother and from what little research she had done, the agony petered out rather quickly, becoming an almost mind-numbing anxiety instead.

Of course, that was when she’d get hit with another wave and would promptly be back to screaming invectives at her husband or whomever was nearby when she got a bit more delirious.

Apparently she’d only been in labor for three hours, which was remarkably short for a first time mother- or at least, that is what she’d been told. By the time Luna had come into the world, clearing her lungs with a shriek, Yang and Weiss had gotten around and were witnesses.

A fuzzy little head of blonde hair complete with ears just as prominent and fluffy as her own mother’s, and a slightly peach tone to her skin that said Luna would likely share a color with her mother after all.

And when those little eyes opened as  **their child** was settled into her arms… Seeing the soft, glimmering little blue eyes, Blake had started to cry.

That was when her own memory kicked back in. She remembered regaining her senses in time to feel Jaune’s arms wrapping around her, and to hear the soft whisper that had drifted across her feline ears.

“You did amazing, Blake.” And her eyes had drifted from her husband’s face down to the little,  **angry** looking girl. Her mood had changed in mere moments, tears streaming down her face even while she laughed. There’d been an awkward pause, until softly the group had begun to giggle in turn until Luna began to paw and Blake settled in to nurse her child for the first time.

For the first time in many months, Blake could only stare as their world changed so rapidly from the simplest little thing.

“I’m a mother.” She’d whispered, feeling like, for the first time in awhile, she had  **hope.**

“Yeah, you are.” Ruby noted, obviously trying to keep herself from bouncing around the room, even Weiss and Yang were smiling. Her gaze turned from her former team-mates towards Jaune-

-and noted that he was unconscious in the chair next to her bed. Feeling rather tired herself, she couldn’t blame him. Even immortal Grimm creatures required rest, and they’d both been fretting endlessly for almost a whole month. Technically the whole pregnancy, since they hadn’t been sure if she would come out “normal”.

When she awoke, it’d been to Jaune cradling their daughter, feeding her through a bottle while Weiss coached him the proper positions- though Blake could tell even groggy that it was more to dull her own nerves than to offer Jaune any actual fatherhood advice. “The sleeping beauty is awake.” Jaune noted, offering her a tired smile, while Weiss leaned over to look at the sleeping face of Luna then towards Blake.

“She’s beautiful, Blake.” Weiss had noted softly, and Blake had simply nodded.

She was a Princess- of the Grimm, and of her parents’ hearts. Blake had seen Jaune look that way at someone only twice- once for Pyrrha, and the other for herself- but she knew that their child would be loved.

And nothing in the world could have made her feel bad when she had that thought. Their little moonbeam, Luna Belladonna-Arc.

As she looked at Jaune, she noted how his face looked so serene. And she knew that, if only for that moment in time, everything in the world was right.


	20. The Final Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this marks the end of Regency. I hope you all have enjoyed it. The comedy, the darkness, and what else it spawned. Thank you for sticking with us!

**The Final Crown**

**Love of a Lifetime;**

**The Beginning of The End;**

**And**

**Birthed in Light**

  
  


Life after Salem’s defeat for Ruby Rose was a winding road of mess after mess. The loss of Jaune and Blake had been harsh- even amidst the parts of the group that weren’t as attached to the two. Guilt had ate at her since Yang’s outburst where she’d broken Jaune’s jaw in Vacuo, shortly before they’d made their way to the Grimmlands to fight Salem at the seat of her power.

Her sister’s persistence in creating bad blood between them since had hurt her every time, and it hadn’t helped that Ruby had kept the flame for the blonde man lit in her heart even as he and Blake had promised to spend the rest of eternity with one another.

She’d been the one to witness it, as well. She’d welcomed the pain. It was her penance for waiting so long, for not stepping up when he was hurting. Always hiding in the background- just like her mother had.

Witnessing the bonds that formed between the knight and the faunus, the soft smiles they would share as Atlas became a wonderland for the two. Their dates out to small cafes, Jaune escorting Blake out into the city for fear of someone accosting her for being a Faunus- his attempts to be chivalrous reaching the girl’s heart while Yang’s unwillingness to take the step forward and be proactive shot her sister in the foot when it came to the ravenette.

A better sister would have been upset for Yang- Ruby could admit she wasn’t a good sister. She had been more upset that she had done much the same and missed her chance to be with Jaune. The fact she shared that misery with Weiss didn’t make it any better.

Unlike Weiss, who got over the man, even as Ruby walked along the streets of Vale with young Luna waddling along at her side with her little hand clasped in her own, Ruby could only think quietly to herself that the little girl could have been  _ hers. _

Her blonde, silver-eyed child.

Rather than be upset at little Luna- the princess that the little Grimm-hybrid was- Ruby simply resolved herself to be a second mother to the blonde, and in that way, she eased her own pain.

“Mama!” She couldn’t help it every time her heart stopped when she heard that word, though. Or the way her eyes would -sting-.

“Yes, moonbeam?” She uttered with a smile.

“Can we go get ice cream?” The little eight-year old asked, her fuzzy ears wiggling in such an adorable fashion that Ruby couldn’t help but want to pinch her cheeks. Those big blue eyes staring up at her with an unbound amount of love that made it easy to forget that the little girl could summon Beowulf pups or other Grimm purely off the cuff of a tantrum.

“Sure can! What flavor do you want?”

“Chocolate!”

Ruby Rose still loved a married man. And, in that way, she felt doomed to repeat the mistakes of her mother.

+x+x+x+xx+

  
  


It was an autumn day when the news came. It’d been twelve years since they’d had to leave Vale and Beacon due to Luna’s ability to summon Grimm in the smallest fit of pique. It had been safer for all three of them to return to Evernight.

It had led to some disconnect with them all, but he’d tried to keep in touch. Ruby was still the easiest- and the quickest- to reach out to them, but Weiss’ new adventures in being a Headmistress of a series of schools and academies had made her busy once again, and Yang was- even if more calm- still avoiding them as she could.

It was a Scroll call that was placed with the aid of the newly relaunched Amity communication tower, and it was the image of Terra and Adrien in tears that led his heart to drop into his stomach and his soul to quaver.

Saphron had died.

_ His sister was dead. _

Immortality had never been such a hurtful concept before, as Luna hugged tightly around his middle and the roiling chaos of the magic of Destruction inside of him demanded to be let out.

To hurt what hurt him. But illness couldn’t be fought, couldn’t be reasoned with. It was just the way of the world asserting itself.

Saphron had lived to middle-age, and even though he was aware of that in his mind, it didn’t stop him from  _ hurting. _

More gently than he thought he could manage at the moment, he adjusted Luna into her mother’s arms, and walked out towards the Pool of Destruction.

It was all he could do to siphon those urges out into new Grimm.

His eyes missed the way Blake’s face fell and his daughter’s eyes followed him as he swept out of the hall of Evernight.

The world had never made sense. The only thing that did was that he could only try to keep this peace that so many had died for- of those, now including his beloved sister.

In her honor, he made a promise that he would not fall to Salem’s level of grief. As the new guards of the castle, monstrous Grimm the size of Atlesian spider-tanks, took their places, Jaune Arc felt his heart break just a little more.

+x+x+x+

  
  


Blake Belladonna-Arc, First of Her Name, stared quietly at the pale face of her former leader and love-rival. The soft make-up treating Ruby Rose’s face hiding the signs of age that had started to touch her cheeks and eyes. Smile lines no longer there as she laid in repose, and her own hand- thoroughly awash in veins of black- held unto the limp grasp of her daughter as Luna cried her own glowing red eyes out.

Inside, the Queen of the Grimm felt nothing. Just an empty, vast abyss that couldn’t even be stirred to a darker emotion by her nature as a creature filled with the power of Destruction. Her free hand came up, softly raking long black nails through locks of black and red hair that had grown long in the years, making the already lovely young woman into a praiseworthy beauty.

Her heart couldn’t even ache. Jaune wasn’t here to cry, to hurt. He couldn’t be moved from the throne upon the news. His eyes had begun to stream with power, and he didn’t even utter a sound when she had brought Luna with her to see the funeral.

Her eyes wandered down over the lovely white dress that stood out from the black and red roses that filled the casket, noting how the bullet wounds in her breast had been carefully closed and hidden away in order to give the woman an open-casket wake.

The woman who had been a second mother to her daughter, who- if Blake had been a little less selfish- could have loved her husband just as much as she did, if not more.

Her guilt was immeasurable, but it did nothing to the emptiness that had built in her soul. Gently, Blake leaned down and softly pressed her lips to the beloved team leader’s forehead, and whispered words she never thought she would say.

“I love you.”

And with that secret unveiled, far too late, Blake gently cradled her daughter into her arms and finally let the tears come herself.

Even as Yang and Weiss came close, along with Ren and Nora and their daughter Lian- who little Luna had grown a fast and hard affection for- Blake felt only emptiness.

She suffered it quietly, until she came home with Luna to find her husband sat still on the throne, his head in his hands and shaking with the effort of not crying.

As she bundled him into her arms, Blake could only softly whisper, “For Luna, Jaune.” And feel a deep, unabaiting misery when he nodded against her snow-white head.

That was the day when they became monsters. Watching the world through the lenses of the Seers, her own dispassion only matched by Jaune’s unceasing grief and growing rage. As Atlas turned on Mistral, and Ren and Nora lost their lives fighting a pointless, insensible war over territory- over  _ land! _ \- she watched as Jaune built up the army that would destroy the world.

Her gaze turned onto the Seer showing Luna cradling Lian at the Lie household, the younger sons Jian and Jiu holding tightly unto their older sister and the cousin by word if not by blood.

“For Luna.” She uttered, once again, into her husband’s ear. And though it was weak, after a deep and nearly sobbing breath, Jaune nodded his head again.

+x+x+x+

  
  


It was a miserable day. Devoid of color, of passion. Who had done it? She couldn’t say. Blake could blame herself, but Jaune would blame himself. Both would be right, and both would be wrong.

She remembered the dispassion, seeing Yang stare at her with red eyes all her own. Weiss standing proud against Jaune.

The last protectors of humanity. And so they fell, just the same as the rest of the world had, awash in the darkness brought by a mass of Grimm so massive that it was it was the truth of the matter that Salem had wanted to rule the world, rather than destroy it.

Jaune and Blake did not care to rule a world devoid of what they cared about. They could only spare Luna the sight of their parents killing the last of her Aunts.

Having her lead the creatures into Atlas, the last bastion of humanity, had seemed the most sensible. And Luna was eager to take vengeance for her lovely lotus flower, even standing astride the beast she’d called the Lotus- a horrifying amalgamation of something like a massive flower sprouting eldritch limbs that even Blake couldn’t fathom her imagination’s intent- to showcase just how truly personal it was.

Blake, in comparison with her dispassion and coldness, could not remember the battle against Yang. Only that her vision had swam in red, her screams of rage and hatred as she’d come back into awareness of herself with what could have been her lover and her best friend staring down at the woman laid beneath her with a gaping hole in her abdomen.

Emptiness filling her soul once again, Blake stepped through a portal and found her husband standing over the slumped corpse of Weiss, the woman’s neck broken in a clinical fashion that dripped with all the feelings that he’d held for the white-haired woman.

For her, it was a murder of passion. For him, it was a mercy-killing born of love. It was fitting of the two of them, and in the same breath, Blake could only smile to herself.

Gently, she wrapped her bloodied arms around his shoulders, and when his free arm without his sword in it came around her, she uttered, one last time, “For Luna.”

As he nodded, resolute and roiling with the power of Destruction, they turned towards the tide of Grimm breaching the flying city and sending it plummeting into Mantle below.

It would be over soon.

  
  


+x+x+x+

  
  


Jaune Arc- No. The King of the Grimm- felt nothing as he stood atop the rubble of the fallen city of Atlas. His gaze swept over the corpses laid in the streets, the Grimm mindlessly wandering in search of one last kill, something they would never get to enjoy again.

There were only three people left on Remnant, and they all stood atop the ruins of a world sank into darkness. His hands tightened at his sides as his glowing red gaze sank unto his daughter, so beautiful and proud, awash in white, black, and red as he and his wife were.

As the sky parted and a thick, loud, humming filled the air, he didn’t even bother to change his stance. A miniature sun and an undulating orb of darkness descended unto the world before them, and Blake moved to stand at his side, her bloodied hand wrapping around his, even as Luna gasped in surprise.

As the Gods formed into their humanoid shapes, the King of the Grimm squeezed his Queen’s hand, and he thought of Ruby, of Weiss, of Yang, of Pyrrha, of everyone he’d loved and lost.

Himself, his wife, his daughter. Even they had been lost the day Ruby Rose died, though Luna had been strong and held on until Lie Lian had died.

That was the day he’d begun to march the armies of the Grimm upon the world, sweeping through Remnant like a plague, destroying any resistance without mercy or struggle simply because none could stop them anymore.

**“Is it what you wanted?”** The God of Light spoke, his voice like ringing bells, soft and gentle in a way that did not match with his judgement of them.

**“Is it what we deserved?”** The God of Darkness asked of his brother, sinuous and like a serpent’s flicking tongue.

The King of the Grimm’s glowing red eyes turned onto his daughter’s eyes, watching as she fell forward onto her knees, Crocea Mors falling from her deathly grip.

And he squeezed his wife’s hand one last time, whispering softly, “For Luna.”

“ **This has been a failure.”** The God of Light uttered, and the God of Darkness mutely nodded his head in turn. As he and Blake stared blankly at the Gods, he wished he could say his heart broke as he heard Luna utter a pained, disturbed wail.

As Blake embraced him as a great flash of white light bloomed from both Gods, he hoped that, if the world was righteous, they would all get to be happy.

  
  


+x+x+x+x+

  
  


“This feels silly.” Jaune noted, carefully pressing the Aura-sensitive mask to his face. It was- in showcasing his status and eligibility- a deep and rich lacquered black and designed to hide the curve of his cheeks, brow, and leave only his lips and jaw exposed. Upon it’s pristine surface were marks like scar-like paintings in gold that symbolized the warrior’s spirit, alongside a pair of diamonds in white to tease the cheeks and state mourning of one’s lost youth. The mask was accompanied by a foppish hat that was accented with a set of deep blue plumes.

It was only one of ten masks to adorn the faces of the family Arc tonight- though three would go unworn. Camillia, Saphron, and Violette all refused to attend the party for different reasons, though his Scroll had been blown up with videos from his errant sisters.

Violette was watching over the newest addition to their little family, little Adrian, while Saphron indulged in a night out with her dusken-skinned wife.

A hand brushed down the shoulders of the old-fashioned suit that he wore, his gaze turning from the floor-length mirror that remained one of the few vain pieces of his room. An orange-painted smile greeted him as he looked upon the mask that hid all of the features of his mother’s lovely face save for those rich ochre lips that he knew would soon spout yet another of her favorite phrases.

“Now, sweetheart, you know these things are expected of us as nobles. Besides, isn’t it fun? You can enjoy yourself, and we have so many guests tonight! Perhaps you’ll even find a suitable girl to make a bride?”

+x+x+x+x

Ruby Rose looked up from her work in the workshop at Signal Academy’s workshop, for a moment, she felt a deep and unabating  _ hurt _ that settled deep into her soul.

The phantom, however, passed just as quickly as it came on. Her hands came back to tinkering with the beginnings of her masterpiece.

She felt she would call it Crescent Rose. She couldn’t say why the name felt so appropriate, but only that the thought of such a shape was comforting.

She loved that simplistic, curved shape. A feeling that resonated in her soul.

+x+x+x+

As she sat with Adam, Blake’s cat-like ears perked this way and that as he spoke, “We’ll protect the Faunus, Blake.” The red-headed man spoke, “Humanity will never respect us if we can’t show them that we’re strong.”

Inside of her, Blake felt that was wrong. They would only respect the Faunus when they showed them that they were no different, but she was young, and Adam’s words were filled with such verve and passion that she was swayed nonetheless.

Though, for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why her feelings for Adam felt so -wrong-.

+x+x+x+

Weiss Schnee stepped down out of the Atlesian transport, a dozen steps behind her father as she walked into the Arc manor’s ballroom, a snow-white mask without features save for the eye-holes and the long ear-like protrusions at the sides to shield her from the world without.

She’d accepted the invitation purely to not be herself for a night, but there was, for some reason, something else that drove her to go along with the Lady Arc’s request for a discreet meeting of the young heiress and the heir to the Arc name itself.

Something that quivered in her soul, something that felt raw and powerful, but she couldn’t place.

As she put the mask on, she found herself swept up into a story all it’s own.

+x+x+x+x

  
  


Yang Xiao Long grinned to herself, tearing down one of Patches’ few dirt roads on Bumblebee. A feeling of freedom and pleasure washing through her even as the wind whipped up every inch of her blonde locks.

Freedom from Signal’s classes for the day meant she could do as she pleased without her father’s insistence on study or training. However, even then, she felt a withering in her heart that made her long for something more.

+x+x+x+

  
  


“And now, the highlights of tonight’s electrifying match between the champion Pyrrha Nikos and-”

The redhead looked up, seeing that she was still alone in the locker room. The memories of her father coming to every class, to every tournament match, were her only comfort. Her mother had taken the death poorly, and had sank herself into becoming a socialite and forgetting her daughter even existed.

As she shrugged on a heavy coat and a wide-brimmed hat, Pyrrha Nikos slipped out of the arena and walked the streets of Argus, pausing when she spied a couple walking hand in hand.

A blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman and a woman with chocolate-toned skin smiling and laughing pleasantly, making her own heart hunger and ache in equal measure.

It was what she wanted. To feel normal, to know what it was like to hold hands with someone you loved.

As she tucked the collar of her jacket up again, Pyrrha Nikos walked onwards towards destiny, even if it felt just like a home that wasn’t a home.

But that was a story for another time. A happy ending to be won after struggle, sacrifice, and pain.

A family to be built out of the ruins of a broken and destroyed world.


End file.
